


Trinity

by Crash5020



Category: Dragon Ball, Naruto, Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fantasy, Friendship, Growth, Hurt/Comfort, Multiple Crossovers, Personal Growth, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23793088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crash5020/pseuds/Crash5020
Summary: The Phantom Ruby, an ancient gemstone with the power to grant the desires of its users. But after a fierce battle sometime ago, the ruby has been shattered and separated across the globe. Intent on obtaining this power, Naruto Uzumaki sets out on a journey to find the shards and get his wish granted, unaware of the life-threatening dangers that lies ahead...
Kudos: 1





	1. Enter! Naruto Uzumaki!

"Get back here you damn fox!"

Several leaves dropped from the overhead branches as a young boy jumped along them. Turning around, the youth noted how the two bandits that were originally chasing him had somehow grown into twelve. Such a sight would intimidate most grown men, but the child had a big smile on his face. Several well-established lawbreakers struggling to keep up with a small child, he couldn't help but feel smug.

"What's wrong? I didn't expect such 'infamous' bandits to have such trouble keeping up with a kid."

Excitement sparkled in his deep blue eyes as his spiky blonde hair swished back and forth as he soared through the air. Several leaves rubbed against the three whisker markings on his left and right cheeks as he launched himself towards higher branches.

The boy, Naruto Uzumaki, turned around and crossed his arms to show how much better he was then his pursuers.

"Ya know, either I'm more incredible than I thought or you guys aren't as great of bandits as you say you are!"

Such a taunt would usually be followed by an immediate return to action, but instead Naruto began to question the legitimacy behind those words. Soon, a confident smirk stretched across his face as he looked down at his pursuers.

"You know what, it's probably both."

"You think you're hot stuff, don't you?" that deep voice quickly wiped the smirk off Naruto's face as he watched a large, burly bandit approach the tree he was currently perched on. Easily towering over the other bandits and possessing enough muscles that he could have snapped them like twigs made it painfully clear he was the leader of the bandits.

"Why wouldn't I? I just stole from you guys and you can't lay a finger on me," Naruto replied, cautiously backing into the trunk of the tree.

The moment his back touched the rough bark behind him, his small body was suddenly blanketed by a large shadow. All confidence vanished as the bandit leader lunged at him.

Naruto quickly jumped out of the way of the path of the bandit's punch, his eyes widening with shock and horror as he watched the entire top trunk of the tree fall alongside him.

Both crashing into the ground at the same time, Naruto blankly at the large dead section of wood then jumped onto his feet and take off.

He zigzagged through the trees, using anything he could to keep ahead of his pursuers. Unfortunately for him, nature was not completely on his side as a lone rock caused him to lose his balance and fall head first into a tree.

"OW!" Naruto cried.

The searing pain caused by his skin violently rubbing against rough bark was almost too much to bear.

"Not so smug now, are ya?" a sharp chill shot up Naruto's spine after hearing that. Looking up to find his pursuers in front of him, there was nothing he could do but stare in disbelief. Despite covering most of their faces with masks, he was sure that they were sporting the same smug grins he had earlier.

His eyes widened with terror as they approached their cornered prey until the ground collapsed beneath their feet.

In seconds, the bandits found themselves stuffed in a deep hole.

"Idiots!" Naruto laughed as he approached the trap. Looking down at them, he thrust his fist and grinned. "You fell for it, morons!"

The victorious child chuckled at the bandits struggling to untangle themselves from the nets spread across the bottom of the pit.

"Can't believe Smok thought that I would have trouble with you guys; it's almost disappointing how easy it was to get what I came for," Naruto murmured under his breath. Sneaking another glance down the pit, he once again afflicted with laughter. "Well, at least this whole thing will keep you guys out of trouble for a while."

"Like you're one to talk, you damn Demon Fox!" one of the bandits argued.

A solemn expression planted itself on Naruto's face as he processed those words. "Demon Fox"; being called that was like a stab to the heart.

His sorrowful face was soon replaced with a playful one as he unfastened his pants.

"W-what are you doing?" one of the bandits stammered.

"Just to give you guys a heads up, it takes two weeks to get rid of the smell," a devilish smile filled Naruto's face as he took aim. "Get ready!"

Various screams filled the forest as Naruto unleashed his final attack.

…

A large yawn broke through Naruto's lips, interrupting his attempt to count the stars that flew past him.

"So bored…" he murmured under his breath.

To him, the train ride back home was almost as boring as it was out of the town; the difference being that there was no anticipation for any kind of conflict. Fortunately for him, he did not have to suffer from boredom much longer for soon the train came to a screeching halt.

The child eagerly jumped off the top of the train and joined the crowd of passengers on their pilgrimage towards the exit. The moment he was outside, he was greeted with the sight of the sprawling metropolis of Hajimeni.

Naruto could remember the first time he first entered the city; seeing buildings that seemed to touch the sky was breathtaking. He thought that his home was as big as a concrete jungle could get.

Hajimeni, also known as the city of beginnings was split into several districts, each one defined by what it contains and who lives there.

"Alright, gotta head back to Zero District," Naruto thought aloud as he began leaping over the heads of the crowd.

Each district possessed a number that designated it from the others starting from one and ending with six. Zero District however was different. Unlike the others, it wasn't officially recognized by the city. Its name was the unofficially designation given to the slums, the remnants of the old civilization the citizens occupied.

When he first arrived not too long ago, Naruto was shocked by how one district could be so different from the others, a feeling that remained as he traversed through it once again. It was disheartening to discover how many people struggled in such a location.

At the edge of the district was a small house that looked as if it could collapse at any second. Several cracks littered the exterior of the building and from those cracks sprout several vines and various forms ivy. Any person would posses some form of hesitation to enter a building, but Naruto held no such reservation.

The child casually pushed the barely cobbled together front door and entered a room much bigger than the exterior of the house. Various pieces of paper and books were scattered across the floor, with even more sheets of paper falling from the ceiling.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, Naruto yelled, "Hey, Smok, I got the thing you told me to get!"

As if on cue, a puff of smoke appeared in front of Naruto. A hand soon appeared from within the smoke and desperately waved it away as its occupant let out several deep coughs. 

"I think I got some in my lungs again…" Naruto shot a confused look at the girl in front of him. At first glance she looked like a normal girl about his age, but her scales and dragon like tail said otherwise. It's actually the fact that she's from the dragon race that confused him.

"You're a dragon, aren't you? How are you choking on your own smoke?" he pointed out.

"To be fair, everyone chokes on smoke…" Smok averted her gaze, pouting as she did so.

"You're hairs' on fire."

"What?!" Smok frantically patted the top of her head, only to discover her purple hair was fine. "Hey!"

Naruto was unable to contain his laughter as he pulled a small glowing red shard from his pocket. "Anyway, I got the thing you wanted."

"Whoa!" Smok's giant, red-violet eyes widened with amazement as she accepted the shard. "I can't believe you actually got it."

"It wasn't that hard," Naruto grinned. His sense of accomplishment shone brightly on his face. "It was just a couple of bandits after all."

"Maybe you got what it takes after all," Smok happily praised.

Naruto's grin grew even bigger. "So, when are we going to get to the others?"

"I gotta find out where they're at first, Naruto."

"Well, while you're at it, you think you can find a better method of travelling? Train rides are boring."

"Like what? Oo!" Smok's eyes immediately lit up interest. "How about flaming horse?"

"Are you crazy?! That would kill me!"

"A zombie harpy?"

"That's creepy!"

"Not to mention, I'm not a necromancer like the Artistes."

Hearing that filled Naruto with dread. "Wait… there are people that can raise the dead?!"

"Mm-hmm." Smok nodded her head. "Anyway…"

"Don't anyway that! How can you be so casual about there being people out there that raise the dead?!"

Smok innocently shrugged and suddenly dropped some money in her companion's hands.

"Why don't you head to the shopping district and get something to eat," she suggested. "I'm sure you built up an appetite."

"Huh? What about you?" Naruto questioned.

"The stuff I eat… I can't eat it around other people," Smok said with solemn eyes. "The taste of man's flesh just makes me crave more and more…"

"What?!"

"Just kidding," she assured her frightened guest. "I couldn't just do that if I wanted too. Too weak. Anyway you should get going."

"Right…" Naruto mumbled under his breath.

The young fox quickly exited the building and started his journey to District 2. Along the way, he heard a high-pitched cry, stopping him dead in his tracks. His curious nature effortlessly persuaded him to follow the cry to its source. Such sounds were not uncommon in the lawless zone known as Zero District, but something about this one was different from the others. It sounded like a child's.

Once he arrived at the source of the distressed cry, Naruto found a small, black-haired boy surrounded by three adult women.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to run into you," the boy apologized with tears in his eyes. It was the fourth time he had apologized, but it still didn't remove the nasty smirks they had on their faces.

"That's not enough," one of the women gripped the boy's gray hoodie and jerked him up to her face. "We were just minding our own business and you rudely interrupted our talk."

"I'm really sorry," the boy apologized once more.

"Maybe you shouldn't be so rough with the kid," one of her companions said. "He did apologize."

"What's with you and going all soft on whiny apologizers?" the other asked.

"What can I say? I'm weak when it comes to gentlemen," the second woman's face inched closer to the young boy's, the smile on her face frightening him despite her supposedly comforting words. "Especially very cute gentlemen."

"I'll give you that, he is a cute kid," a cruel smile crossed the woman restraining the child. "I just thought up a way you could make it up to us and you'll get something out of it too."

"W-What is it?" the boy fearfully asked.

"We're about to teach you a few secrets about wo-!" a swift kick to the face prevented the woman from further traumatizing the frightened child.

Before the others could react, Naruto grabbed one of the remaining women and threw her into her companion, the impact rendering them both unconscious.

"I've heard of easy, but this is ridiculous…" Naruto then turned his gaze towards the child he just saved and extended his right hand. "You okay?"

The child glanced down at the hand and slowly reached for it. Slowly standing on his feet, he replied with, "Yeah… Thanks for your help."

"It was nothing," Naruto then leaned towards the black haired child's left ear and whispered. "Just know that those are the kind of women that you'll want to avoid from now on."

Suddenly, his eyes were drawn to a strange sight on the ground. Resting behind the boy's legs was a monkey tail.

"Whoa! What's with the monkey tail?" Naruto questioned.

"I don't really know. I just have it," the boy answered.

Though he felt like he shouldn't be surprised to see a kid with a monkey tail, Naruto was still amazed. Perhaps he'll never get used to strange sights, despite not being so normal himself.

But that thought was soon pushed to the back of his head by the roar of his stomach.

"Time to eat!" Naruto eagerly jumped up to the roofs of the slums before turning back to the child he just rescued. "See ya, later."

With that succinct farewell, he began jumping from roof to roof on his way to District 2.


	2. Necro-What?

District 2, Hajimeni's bustling portion of the city designed to fulfill everyone's needs. There were general stores, weapon shops and even clubs for "entertainment". Naruto shuddered as he remembered his first trip through this district. It was then when the 6-year old learned how some adults try to spend their free nights and ever since, he made sure to avoid eye contact with establishments they spend their time at.

His stomach roared as he traversed through the district. As he looked around for a place to eat, Naruto could only lament how he couldn't eat from his favorite restaurant. "I should have asked for a few bowls of Ichiraku to go before leaving…"

Continuing to seek out an establishment that could help fill his empty belly, the child's eyes were soon drawn to a little girl shoving her way through many of the districts' denizens. She frantically looked up and down and side to side until nothing concern was plastered over her mauve tint face.

She quickly glanced into the bag strapped over her shoulder before continuing her search. Suddenly, her magenta eyes landed on Naruto."Hey, you!"

Her long, deep purple twin tails swayed from side to side as she ran at him.

"What?" Naruto replied.

"You're not human, right?" she asked.

"Not really."

An unnerving smile formed on the girl's face. "Excellent. Finally, someone who can actually be of some use."

"Huh?" the way she said "of some use" set alarms off in Naruto's head.

"I'll get straight to the point. My name's Chrome and I want your help with something."

"Help with what?"

"Tracking down a rat of mine."

"A rat?"

"That's right. I was performing an experiment with it until it ran off."

"Probably because it didn't like being experimented on."

Ignoring his blunt comment, Chrome continued. "I tracked it down to this city, but as soon as I found it, it ran off again. I'd like you to help me pursue and incapacitate it."

"You want to find a rat in this giant city?" Naruto blankly stared at the girl in front of him then turned to leave. "I'll pass."

He normally wouldn't mind helping a person in need, but something about the girl caused his intsicts to cry out to run and never stop.

"W-Wait!" she called, stopping Naruto in his tracks. "I'll give you a reward if you help me."

"Really?" he didn't even bother to hide his doubt as he questioned the legitimacy behind her words.

"Of course. I'll stake the reputation of my family name on it."

Such a declaration was all it took for Naruto to trust her claim. Anyone could have made a claim like that, but the way she said with such pride… It was hard not to take it seriously. But even though he believed it… "Even if I did help, how are we going to find a rat in this huge city?"

Chrome simply snickered. "Did you really think I came here unprepared? How'd you think I tracked the specimen here in the first place?"

She dramatically pulled a small device out of her bag and presented it to him. "I planted a device in it, in case something like this happened. All I have to do is press this button and it should give us its general location."

Chrome then activated the device, showing a red dot on a map.

"Um, Chrome… Isn't that a map of the world?" Naruto asked, perplexed.

The girl wordlessly shoved device back in her bag.

"No matter. My creation shouldn't be too hard to find," Chrome confidently declared.

"But it's a rat in a big city..."

"Trust me, it sticks out."

Before Naruto could express his disbelief in that claim, Chrome was suddenly pushed to the ground by a giant rat. The young fox couldn't believe what he had just witnessed, nor could he decide what was more surprising: the fact that they found the rat that easily or that it was a giant that looked like its entire body was a poorly put together puzzle

Each part of its body was a different color and held together with stitches. There was also a distinctive odor that surrounded it.

It ferociously growled at the girl beneath it before suddenly taking off into the city.

"What was that?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That was my latest creation!" Chrome quickly jumped on her feet. "Now, let's go-! uhm."

"I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto proudly introduced himself.

"Let's go, Naruto! We'll teach him that he can't escape its master!" Chrome declared.

_Can't exactly blame the rat from running away if that's how she treats it._

The two immediately gave chase.

"How are we going to take that rat down?" Naruto asked.

"It's simple," another unnerving smile crossed Chrome's face, greatly concerning her partner. "I need you to be live bait."

"What!? Do I look like bait?!"

"All you have to do is catch up to it and lead it to the slums."

"Zero District?"

"Yep. I set a trap there that will definitely catch it."

"If you say so… It's time to go wild!" Naruto flung himself forward and latched onto his target's back.

In response, the rat rampaged wildly, shaking the child around before finally throwing him off.

Now possessing the rat's full, undivided attention, Naruto quickly took off for Zero District. Barely keeping ahead of the rat, he led the rodent into Zero District and found Chrome waving at him. Giving himself one final push, Naruto jumped lunged forward and landed behind Chrome.

"Now then…" A confident smirk formed on the small girl's lips as she watched the rat charge at them. The moment it was close enough, Chrome swiftly pulled a switch out of her bag and aimed it at her target. "Time to receive your punishment for running away!"

She flipped the switch, causing a hole to open up beneath her.

"Noooooooo!" the small girl cried as she fell into her own trap.

Witnesses to her failure, Naruto and the rat could only blankly stare down the hole before exchanging confused glances.

"So, that didn't work," he said.

The rat roared, sending fresh waves of fear down the child's spine. Confronted by a being he couldn't understand, all he could think about was staying on the defensive, narrowly avoiding the rat's strikes.

But as the onslaught continued, he eventually realized that the attacks he was barely avoiding was beginning to become harder to dodge. Keeping up with the rat's amazing speed was starting to take its toll on him and it would not be long before he would get hit.

"Dang it!" Naruto cried.

But before that moment could come, the rat froze in place before suddenly collapsing.

"You shouldn't have turned your back on me," beyond the unconscious rat was Chrome, now holding an empty syringe.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked.

"I injected him with an experimental sleeping drug designed to affect zombies," the girl looked down at her subject and smiled. "Seeing how quickly it took effect, I can say it’s a success."

"Wait…" Shocked by what he just heard, Naruto looked down at the rat then back up at Chrome. "That's a zombie?"

"Of course. Before it was just an ordinary dead rat I came across but, after I was finished with it, it became true piece of art!"

Naruto blankly stared at the girl in front of him, trying his hardest to process what he just heard.

"ART?!" he exclaimed. "You took a dead animal and brought it back as a terrifying monster!"

"Impressive, isn't it?" Chrome boasted. "Increased power and speed. If I can get such a result from a mere rat, imagine what I could accomplish with humanoid corpses. Soon, the world will once again marvel at the Artiste name!"

"...You're not exactly a normal person are you?"

"What's so un-normal about my desire to perfect my craft?"

"The fact that it involves dead people."

"Don't you think it would be more un-normal if a necromancer didn't practice the black arts?"

"I think zombies are wrong altogether. It's already bad when people mess with others when they're alive, but isn't messing with their remains crossing a line?"

"I think what I'm doing is better than letting perfectly good material waste away; most of the time forgotten or were never thought about before. But you don't have to get it now. One day you'll understand the beauty of my craft when I eventually unveil my work to the world," Chrome assured him

"I think you'll get worse reactions than mine…" Naruto flatly stated.

"Anyway, you helped me out and gave me a chance to see my work in action, so it's time to give you your reward." Chrome dug into her bag, her face growing flustered as her search grew desperate. "What what happened to my-? Ah!"

The girl's eyes widened with shock as she realized her mistake. "That's right! I spent the last of my money getting that skull!"

"You paid for a skull…?" Naruto couldn't believe what he just heard.

"Well, the seller was shady, but I couldn't deny the deal she gave," Chrome said.

Naruto silently stared at her. He wasn't sure how much more of this entire scenario he could take. "…So, you don't have a reward for me?"

"I did stake my family's honor on it…" Chrome pondered a substitute reward. "I got it."

She dug into her bag and pulled out another syringe. Naruto felt a sharp chill shoot up his spine as the girl approached him with it.

"You seem like the type to make use of this so here," Chrome dropped the syringe into her helper's hands.

"What's this?" he asked.

"It's a special remedy I created that can knock out any living creature out. I brought it along in case anyone gave me trouble."

Naruto glanced down at the syringe. He felt drawn to the slightly glowing purple liquid inside. _Probably best that I got this from her… Who knows what would happen if this was left in her hands._

"Now then…" a third dark smile crossed the girl's face. "Time to return to my lab with my guinea pig."

Chrome turn her attention to the unconscious rat, her smile slowly replaced with dismay as she took in its large size. "I have to carry the subject back home…"

Naruto was sure that he could hear some slight whimpers from the girl as she steeled herself for the difficult task ahead of her.

"Naruto?" The whiskered boy curiously turned around and watched Smok approached him. "What are you still doing here? I thought you were off to District 2."

"I was at District 2 until I got roped into fighting a zombie rat," he explained.

"A zombie rat?"

"Yeah, that one," Naruto pointed at Chrome struggling to lift the rat off the ground. "That girl made a zombie rat."

"Really?" Smok curiously glanced at the girl, examining her from head to toe. "A succubus necromancer. Even for succubuses, that's still weird."

"What's a succubus?"

"It's a female monster that feeds on life energy. A lot of people can do it, but what's notable about succubus is how they usually do it."

"How do they do it?"

"They…" Smok whispered the answer into Naruto's right ear, causing a horrified expression to crash on his face. "And sometimes they get creative and…"

The child's eyes grew wider and wider with horror as Smok explained in great detail how Succubi drain energy from their victims. "What the heck?!"

"Though some have preferences, they will still drain anyone," Smok finished with an innocent smile.

Naruto shuddered as he processed what he had just heard. He never knew a simple verbal explanation could be so traumatizing nor did he know the things he just heard were even possible "Ugh… I feel dirty after hearing that…"

"Well, there's one thing that can get your mind off that. Let's get to District 2!" Smok jumped into the air and immediately crashed into the ground. "Right… Still can't fly."

Naruto effortlessly lifted her back on her feet and took the lead.

"Guess we're walking," Smok said with a chipper attitude.


	3. The Journey Begins

A sense of dread and sorrow filled Naruto as he solemnly rocked back and forth on the playground swing. He had been doing that for the past week, quietly swinging as he pondered his next move. But just as his train of thought started to up, he was forced off the swing by a sharp, tiny rock. A dark, warm liquid trickled down his face and he heard, "What are you going to destroy today, Demon Fox!?"

Looking up, Naruto found a couple of adults standing next to the entrance to the playground, their faces holding nothing but contempt for the boy. In response, Naruto glared at his attackers. In no time at all, their contempt turned into fear and the moment Naruto stood on his feet, they wasted no time in running away. As he watched them run, the child's expression changed to a mix of annoyance and regret. He then returned to the swing and continued to rock back and forth until darkness blanketed the area.

Light slowly returned allowing Naruto to find himself now in a bed. A yawn broke through his lips as he sat up.

"Stupid…" he mumbled under his breath as he jumped out of bed.

The young fox walked downstairs and found Smok in the middle of reading one of her many books

"Hey, Smok…" Naruto called.

Naruto's eyes widened as Smok launched out of her seat and landed behind him. Her disturbed face made it clear that she was…

"Y-You startled me, Naruto," Smok stammered.

"What doesn't startle you?"

"The burning smell of the Flaming Mountains."

Naruto blankly stared at the girl in front of him. "…"Did you find the other things yet?"

"Yeah, about that…" Smok swept the dust off her cloak and sat back down at her desk. "Remember what I told you about shards when we first met?"

"Yeah. You said that if we gather them together, they could grant any wish," Naruto recalled.

"Yeah, but what I didn't tell you is why they're separate in the first place."

"Isn't it because things are never that easy?”

“True. But that’s not the only reason. You see, a long time ago, during the reign of Alipheese Fateburn VIII, who was also known as Black Alice, there was this mystical object called “The Phantom Ruby”.

"'Phantom Ruby'?"

"Yep."

"The shard I found yesterday is part of something called the Phantom Ruby?"

"Uh-huh."

Naruto reached for the shard on Smok's desk and presented it to her. "This shard? This **red** shard is part of something called the Phantom **Ruby**?"

"Yep," Smok confirmed with a smile.

Naruto wordlessly stared at Smok then at the shard in his hand. After capturing another look at Smok, he placed the shard back on her desk. "So… What else do you know about it?"

"Well, it’s an object of great power that can grant its user any wish they want. But once upon a time a certain someone tried to use its power to conquer the world. Unfortunately for them, they tried to conquer the world when there was already a wannabe world conqueror around and a powerful hero around.”

“What happened to them?”

“They lost and the Phantom Ruby was eventually shattered into seven pieces and separated by Black Alice's little sister: Alipheese IX."

"How many Alipheeses are there?"

"I think we're on XV or XVI. Anyway, this is where things get tough. After Alipheese IX separated the ruby, she assigned five people to guard over five of the shards while the sixth was hidden in the Monster Lord's castle."

"Huh? But I got one of them from bandits."

"Yeah. I think something happened to them overtime. At first I thought the bandits got a lucky break and maybe pilfered it from the guards or the Monster Lord's castle. But I used the shard you found to get a rough estimate of the locations of the remaining shards and they don't seem to be in guardian like locations the castle.

"But this is probably for the best. You're strong for your age, but I don't think you can take on monsters that you would consider ancient. On that note…" Smok reached for her desk and presented Naruto with a map. "I already dotted out the locations for you."

"Alright!" an excited grin formed on Naruto's lips and he accepted the map.

"And don't forget this," Smok reached behind her back and presented a backup. "All the essentials and the shard."

Naruto accepted the backpack and quickly strapped it over his shoulder.

"So, it's finally time to get started for real…" Naruto happily chuckled as thought about his upcoming journey. "Just you wait, Smok, I'll find the rest in a flash."

"I'll hold you to that," Smok happily nodded her head.

Naruto nodded his head in return before an awkward silent penetrated their conversation. His whisker-marked cheeks faintly grew red as he struggled to maintain eye contact.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Smok asked.

"Nothing, it's just… Thanks for taking me in and helping me, Smok," Naruto thanked.

"Huh?" the girl in front of him wordlessly examined him from head to toe. "I never expected you to say that. But, no problem."

"Time to go wild!" Naruto excitedly declared.

"By the way, you still have to take the train out of town," Smok informed him.

"Dang it!" Naruto complained.

"And it's going to leave soon."

A rage-filled scream leaped out of Naruto's mouth before darting out of the house.

"I didn't have the heart to add that rubies are red too," Smok thought aloud.

Even if he was told, Naruto's mind was too obsessed with trying to make the boring train ride to care. He ran and ran until he was eventually brought to a screeching halt by some unknown force.

"Ow! Who put a brick wall in the middle of the road?" Naruto thought aloud.

"Excuse me," he heard someone say.

Despite the pain, the young fox was able to recognize that meek, gentle voice.

"Wait…" Naruto glanced up to find the boy he helped yesterday in front of him. "Hey, you're the kid with the monkey tail!"

"Mm-hmm. I'm Son Gohan," the boy introduced himself.

"Gohan, huh? Well, I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. By the way, where were you off to in such a hurry?"

"I wasn't going anywhere. I was just standing here."

"Really? Felt like I ran into someone running into me… Wait, I don't have time to think about this! I have to catch the train before it's too late!"

"Hold it!" the two turned around to face the source of that sudden demand. Gohan's face immediately turned pale white upon finding himself face to face with the women Naruto saved him from the day before. "You two really gave us trouble yesterday."

"We? He didn't do anything. Besides you were the guys that were causing trouble," Naruto pointed out.

"Um, Naruto…" Gohan said.

"But if you three want me to take you down again, I'm all for it," Naruto boasted.

"Naruto…" Gohan said.

"Wait, you guys aren't succubusses are you?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto!" Gohan cried.

"What?" Naruto finally answered.

Gohan wordlessly spun Naruto around in a full 360 degree movement, allowing the young Uzumaki to realize that they were surrounded.

"Oh." Naruto glanced around, noting the various knives, swords and creepy faces. He also took note of the scales that permeate their body and lizard like tails. "Hey, Gohan, can you fight?"

"Not really," the monkey-tailed child answered as his whole body shook.

"Welp…" a confident grin spread across Naruto's face. "More fun for me. It's time to go wi-!"

"Didn't you say that you had to catch a train?" Gohan recalled.

30 seconds passed by until Naruto's brain fully processed his words. "Oh crap, that's right! I don't have time for this!"

"Maybe we could find some way to work out a compromise," Gohan suggested. "Maybe if we-"

Before he could finish that sentence, Gohan found himself lifted over Naruto's shoulder.

"Hang on," he instructed.

Naruto jumped up to a nearby rooftop and began jumping towards other ones as he raced to the train station.

"Naruto, they're following us!" Gohan cried.

Glancing over his shoulder, Naruto could see that they were indeed being chased.

"Yeesh, they're really stubborn, aren't they?" he noted. "Maybe they **are** succubuses."

"What's a succubus?" Gohan asked.

"You don't want to know…" Naruto assured him.

He continued to hop across rooftops as fast as he could but found himself unable to lose their pursuers. "Hey, Gohan?"

"Yeah?" Gohan responded.

"You sure you can't fight?"

"No, I can't fight. I'm just a kid."

"You know I'm a kid too, right? Not to mention your monkey tail kinda makes it obvious you're not exactly a normal kid like me. You sure you don't have some sort of hidden power?"

"I'm pretty sure I don't have anything like that."

"Hm. Fine…"

Naruto suddenly jumped at street level and continued his run to get out of Zero District. As he anticipated, their chasers followed them down there.

"Is this part of your plan, Naruto?" Gohan queried.

"Yep. Just watch th-" From the corner of his eyes, Naruto noticed a girl suddenly appear in front of him. "Whoa!"

Using his heels, Naruto brought his run to a screeching halt just in front of the girl. Something about her was mesmerizing to him. At first he thought it was the jet black tattoos that crawled down her bleach white skin from her eyes or maybe it were her horns that perfectly matched her gothic attire. But neither of those were the answer. He soon realized that it was actually her blood red eyes. It was like they were peering into her soul.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Son Gohan" she suddenly said.

"Huh?" Naruto couldn't hide his shock over what he just heard. "How'd you know my-?"

"There they are!" A sharp chill shot up Naruto and Gohan's spines as they heard that announcement.

"Dang it, they just won't quit!" Naruto complained.

Preparing to make another dash, Naruto suddenly found himself unable to move. No matter how hard he tried, he could not move an inch. "Wh-What the heck?"

Suddenly, the girl walked in front of the two and directed her gaze at their pursuers. In no time at all, all of them collapsed to the ground, foam pouring out of their mouths.

"Whoa…" the two couldn't hide their amazement at what they just saw.

But that amazement quickly turned to anxiety as her gaze returned to them.

"Gohan, tell me you didn't somehow tick this girl off too." Naruto desperately pleaded.

"I've never even met her…" Gohan fearfully muttered.

"Naruto Uzumaki… What you're seeking will lead you down a path of turmoil," the girl said.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Seeking the shards could get you killed and even if you succeed, you won't get what you desire."

Deprived of his vocabulary, Naruto could only stare at the girl before anger seeped in. "What would you know about what I desire?"

Ignoring his question, the girl stretched her hand towards him. In the blink of an eye, a Phantom Ruby shard appeared in front of him.

"That's-!" Before he could finish his sentence, Naruto's hand reflexively reached out and grabbed the shard. "How'd you-?"

"What you decide to do from here on out… Whether you live or die… Think about the consequences that your journey will bring you," the girl said before fading away.

Naruto curiously looked down at the shard he was just given. A plethora of emotions swelled in him as he pondered what he was just told.

"Oh crap! The train!" remembering his original task, Naruto took off once again.


	4. A Rough and Weird Start

"I hate trains," Naruto complained as he led Gohan down an open field. He really did hate how long and boring train ride could be. As he continued walking down the dirt road path, Naruto glanced at Gohan and asked, "By the way, Gohan, what are you still doing here?"

"Um…" Gohan awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he wondered how he could answer that question without sounding rude. "Well… You didn't put me down until we were in the train after it pulled off."

"Oh, right," Naruto awkwardly scratched his whiskered marked right cheek as he recalled jumping on top of the train as it pulled off. "But why didn't you go back to Hajimeni after the train stop?"

"Actually, I didn't really live in Hajimeni. I was just passing by"

"Really? What's a kid like you doing wandering around by yourself?"

"Um…" Gohan once again found himself wondering how he could answer that question. Despite giving it thought, all he could answer was with, "Wandering around?"

Naruto shot the monkey-tailed child a confused look. "…You don't know what you're doing do you?"

"Not really… I'm just wandering alone…" a sorrowful look planted itself on Gohan's face.

"Okay…" an awkward silence penetrated their conversation prompting Naruto to pull out the map that Smok gave him in an attempt to avoid it.

The moment he opened it, the young, human-looking kitsune found himself completely lost.

"Uh…" no matter how he looked at it, Naruto could not understand what he was looking at. "Maybe I should have paid more attention to what Iruka sensei was saying during our map reading lessons." I didn't know it was so hard."

"What's hard?" Gohan asked.

"This map," Naruto wasted no time in presenting the map to him. "Other than the marks Smok made, I have no idea what I'm looking at."

Gohan's eyes scoured over the map. "It looks like the closest thing you're looking for is in a place called the Forest of Spirits."

"Wait, you can read this?" Naruto's eyes widened with amazement.

"Mm-hmm," Gohan nodded. "It's actually pretty easy to read."

"Great. Think you can lead me there?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be a good idea?"

"Didn’t the girl that saved us back in Hajimeni say that it was really dangerous to try to find those shards you're looking for?"

Naruto thought back to the encounter Gohan referred to. The visage of the girl who helped them was burned into his memory. "She was a really creepy girl, but she did help us. That said… Come on, how would she know how dangerous finding those shards is?"

"But… Doesn't her having one of the shards you were looking for kind of lend credence her claim?" Gohan pointed out.

"Uh… I guess you got a point there…" Naruto acknowledged. "Still, this probably the least dangerous thing I can do anyway if that makes you feel better. So will you help me?"

"Um…" An unsure look crossed Gohan's face as he glanced down at the map then back to Naruto. His heart was full of doubt and fear, but he also couldn't find it in him to refuse Naruto's request. Coinciding with the fact that he had no direction in life at the moment, Gohan answered with a slightly mumbled "Sure."

"Alright! Lead the way, Gohan!" Naruto declared.

A worried Gohan continued to walk down the dirt path as Naruto eagerly followed.

"We should probably stop by at least one of the towns on the way," he advised.

"Yeah, that's one of the first travelling tips I learned at the Ninja Academy," Naruto replied. "It was actually one of the classes I stayed awake in."

As the two continued to walk down their path they suddenly felt a small, brief tremor. Not too long after the first, they felt another, stronger one. Seconds later, another one struck with enough force to briefly lift them off the ground.

"What's with all the earthquakes?" Naruto wondered aloud in an annoyed tone.

Suddenly, the two felt a constant hot wind roughly brush against their backs. It was at that moment when the two felt sharp chills shoot down their spines.

"Gohan…?" Naruto fearfully muttered.

"Yeah…?" Gohan winced.

"Do hot, steamy and nasty smelling winds happen with earthquakes that get stronger as it gets closer to you?"

"Not any in recorded history."

The children slowly turned around, their heart beats increasing in intensity with every step they took. Once they finished their 180 degree rotation, the two found themselves staring into the eyes of a 20 foot tall Tyrannosaurus Rex. Naruto could only stare at the large carnivorous beast in front of them in disbelief as Gohan started to tear up.

The dinosaur let out a roar so massive that it nearly blew them away. The children screamed in terror as they turned and ran.

"What the heck is a dinosaur doing here?!" Naruto exclaimed.

The two continued to run and run in as the dinosaur continued to chase them. Though they were successful in barely keeping ahead of the beast, the constant shaking of the earth beneath them caused Naruto and Gohan to tumble over each other.

With its prey disoriented, the T-Rex opened its mouth as wide as it could and lunged at the children. It chomped down and proceeded to slowly chew its catch. As it savored its meal, the beast soon realized that it tasted no meat between its sharp teeth. It wasted no time in spitting out the dirt in its mouth and began to search for its prey, unaware that they were currently a top its back.

"How'd we get up here?" that curiosity was enough to push back the fear in Naruto's heart. Looking to his side, he found Gohan cowering next to him while the scared child's hand tightly squeezing his shirt. "Gohan…?"

The dinosaurs head quickly turned around and it glared at the children. Fear quickly returned to Naruto as he grabbed hold of Gohan. He quickly jumped off the dinosaur as it thrashed about, but before they could hit the ground; the two were struck by the dinosaur's tail, sending them flying over the horizon.

They flew through the air for what seemed like forever before finally crashing into the ground like meteors from the stars.

"I'm starting to get why most dinosaurs are gone…" Naruto grumbled.

"Mm-hmm…" Gohan nodded his head in agreement.

The two continued their journey along the dirt road until the sun began to set. Deciding to turn in for the night, the gathered some wood and started a campfire.

Later that night…

"Hey, Gohan, are herbs food?" Naruto asked as he dug around his backpack.

"Yes, but I don't think they're very filling," Gohan answered.

Naruto pulled out one of the herbs in his bag, his face contorting with disgust as he waved it in front of his face. "We gotta find some actual food when we find a town."

The young human looking kitsune laid spread across the ground and sighed. As he gazed upon the bright stars splintered across the sky, he started to recall the dinosaur chase from earlier. "Hey, Gohan, you sure you can't fight?"

"Yeah. I really doubt I have it in me to fight…" Gohan answered.

Naruto quickly shot him a curious look, confusing the monkey-tailed boy. "Then how'd you survive on your own?"

"Mainly by avoiding trouble and a lot of luck," he answered.

Naruto's eyes examined Gohan from head to toe.

"I'm pretty sure there's more to that luck part…" he thought.

"What about you, Naruto? How come you're wandering around alone?" Gohan queried.

"Uh…" the young Uzumaki quickly rolled away his questioner and stretched his limbs. "Reasons."

"But aren't you're parents worried?"

"Don't really have to worry about that."

An awkward silence penetrated their conversation, ending it before another question could be asked. Eventually the two drifted off into the comfort of sleep in their cobbled together campsite, unaware that they were being watched nor were they aware that the shards in Naruto's backpack were glowing ever so slightly.

"Look at what he did!"

"You'll pay for this!"

"Stop doing this!"

"Hey! Stop causing trouble!"

A mischievous laugh broke through Naruto's lips as he finished painting on the Hokage Stone Faces.

"Shut up, you morons! None of you would be able to do something like this! But I can! I'm incredible!" he boasted.

Naruto continued to laugh at the onlookers until he heard, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING DURING CLASS TIME?!! GET DOWN HERE YOU MORON!"

"Oh crap! Iruka Sensei!" Naruto shouted as he sat up. The child clutched his chest as he took a moment to regain his senses. "W-What was that…?"

"Aaahhh!"

Naruto quickly turned towards the direction of that sudden scream. It sounded very familiar.

"Gohan?" he quickly jumped on his feet and followed his companion's screams until he eventually found Gohan encased in a transparent pink liquid. "What the heck is that?"

Suddenly, the liquid changed its shape into that of a girl with bunny ears and larger than normal breast.

"Oh, a slime girl…" Naruto said, unable to hide his disinterest.

"I'm not a slime! I'm a rabbit!" the slime cried.

"A bunny slime?"

"I'm a rabbit!"

Naruto blankly stared at the Bunny Slime in front of him. Despite having Gohan in her grasp, he just could not see her as a threat.

"So… what are you doing with, Gohan?" he asked.

"I'm hop, hopping! I'm going to make him slop!" she boasted.

"Don't think I want to know what that means," Naruto thought before charging at the slime and driving his right foot into her face. Delivering an attack with such force sent the Bunny Slime flying as her grip on Gohan was forcibly removed.

"You okay, Gohan?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, thanks," Gohan thanked.

"Waahh…" the Bunny Slime cried as the foot shaped mark Naruto left on her slowly disappeared. "That really hurt."

"That was kinda the point," Naruto said. "Did you really think I wasn't going to attack you after you tried to make Gohan slop?"

"What does that mean?" Gohan wondered aloud.

"We probably don't want to know," Naruto assured him before turning his attention back to the humanoid slime. "As for you… What's with the whole rabbit thing?"

"I'm a rabbit…" she weakly answered.

"You're a girl made out of slime."

"I'm a rabbit!"

"You're a slime girl with bunny ears."

"I hop around like a rabbit!" the Bunny Slime argued as she hopped in front of them.

"Anyone can hop around like a rabbit," Naruto said.

"I got rabbit ears," she said, emphasizing the pink bunny ears that sat atop her head.

"Made out of slime," Naruto added.

"My name's even Bunni!" she cried.

"What does that prove?" Naruto shot her a confused look as he asked this. "Plus, I can see through you like I can see through slime."

Such a cold look caused the slime to shrink back in defeat. "Hop Hop… I'm not a liar… I really am a rabbit…"

A disbelieving sigh escaped the child's lips as Gohan approached the tearful slime.

"I believe you. Here…" the monkey-tailed child handed the Bunny Slime a carrot with a warm smile.

"Yay!" the slime girl happily accepted the gift and started munching on the carrot. "See, rabbits love carrots."

"They do," Gohan happily agreed.

Watching this only confused Naruto more than already was.

"Gohan, you do know she's a pink slime girl with bunny ears right?" he questioned.

"Yes, but if she says she's a rabbit, then we should respect that," Gohan whispered.

"You're really nice to someone who was just trying to make you slop," Naruto noted.

After finishing the carrot she was given, Bunni happily hopped to Gohan.

"You're nice, monkey-tailed boy," she said. "Hop, Hop! Here, take this!"

Bunni raised her hand over Gohan's. Soon a glob of slime slowly drooped from her body and fell into Gohan's hand.

"What's this?" he asked.

"It's a Slime Core. It's a sign of friendship between slimes," Bunni answered. "Well, time to Hop, Hop to the another slimes carrot field."

With that declaration, Bunni happily hopped into the distance.

"This has been a weird day," Naruto said as he led Gohan back to their campsite.


	5. Akatsuki

"Ugh…" Naruto moaned as he gently clutched his raging stomach. It has been well-over 24 hours since either he or Gohan had a proper meal and, though he was not sure about his companion, the hunger was beginning to have a slight effect on his morale. "Gohan… Tell me there's another town nearby."

"Um…" Gohan glanced down at the map. His eye scoured the guide between his hands, but he couldn't find anything that would not disappoint Naruto. "There doesn't seem to be one on the map…"

The young Uzumaki groaned as the two continued down their path. "And that last town looked like it was gone for years. We need some food! I should have looked into the bag before leaving Smok! I'm craving some Ichiraku!"

Finished with his rants and now overcome with boredom, Naruto mindlessly reached into his backpack and pulled one of the Phantom Ruby shards out of his backpack, "If only I could make a wish with this thing now."

"Is that what they'll do when they're all together?" Gohan asked. Though he agreed to help Naruto on his quest and had an idea of what kind of value the shards had to Naruto, this was the first Gohan had heard what their express purpose was.

"Yeah." Naruto confirmed. "Smok said that if I can get these together I can make as many wishes as I want."

"Really…" Gohan stared intensely at the shard. If collecting all seven really resulted in having a wish granted. "Do you… Do you think that I could make a wish with it when we find the others?"

Confusion landed on Naruto's face before he shot a disbelieving look at his companion. Such a look was all the nervous Gohan needed to understand what Naruto's answer was."Are you kidding? Of course, you'll get a wish."

Gohan's eyes widened with surprise. "Really?"

"You didn't think you were just going to help me and get nothing in return, did ya?" he watched as a big grin stretched across Naruto's face before he was suddenly presented with the shard. "I promise that when we find all the shards you'll get as many wishes as you want too."

Staring at the offering, Gohan found himself deprived of speech. Naruto's assurance and how he said it like it was the most obvious fact in the world filled his heart with a little warmth. He had hasn't received such kindness from someone in a very long time.

He slowly reached out and accepted the shard, a small smile forming on his lips as he brought it closer to his face.

"Thanks, Naruto," Gohan said.

"Don't thank me yet. We still got to find the others," Naruto reminded him.

Gohan continued to stare at the shard in his hand. It was like his eyes were drawn to it and found it hard to look away. Suddenly, the young boy found himself on his knees, confused and horrified as he hovered over his master's limp body.

"P… Piccolo! Why did… you save me…?" he asked.

"Didn't I… Tell you to run…" Piccolo weakly reminded him. "Hu… Hurry up and get outta here…"

Tears welled up in the scared child's eyes."D-Don't die!! My dad will be here soon! P… Please!! Please Don't Die!!"

"How pathetic… The Great Demon King Piccolo of all people… P-Protecting a little kid… It's disgraceful.

A weak smile formed on the Namekian's face. "It's because of you and your dad… You two must've rubbed off on me… Gohan, you're the only one who ever treated me with respect…"

Tiny droplet of tears crawled out of Piccolo's eyes as he felt his remaining strength quickly disappearing. "To be honest… These last few months weren’t so bad…"

Finally depleted of strength, the warrior could only say one last thing as he closed his eyes. "Don't die Go…han…"

Despair filled the child as the realization that his master was gone sunk in.

"NOOOOO!!!" Gohan tearfully cried.

"Whoa!" Shocked by the sudden response, the young monkey-tailed child glanced up at Naruto. He could only face upon the disturbed face of his companion. "Why are you screaming 'NOOOOO' all of a sudden and… Why are you crying?"

"Ah…" Gohan wiped the tears from his eyes. Despite being sure that what he just witnessed never happened before, the pain he felt was too personal to ignore. "I… I just saw something really weird. I don't know what it was but… It was really painful…"

A worried look crossed Naruto's face. Not only was it slightly upsetting to see his companion so emotional, it also sounded like Gohan had just experienced something similar to what he had the night before.

"Hey… Gohan…" Naruto quickly averted his gaze as his companion looked up at him. He wanted to say something that could cheer him up, but he couldn't think of anything.

Suddenly, a pair of arms tightly wrapped themselves around Naruto from behind. "What the-?!"

"Got you this time, Fū!" he heard someone declare.

"The heck you do!" Naruto swiftly drove the back of his head into what felt like his captor's face. Soon the arms that ensnared him weakly loosened their grip, allowing him to escape. "And the name's Naruto, not Fū!"

Naruto glared at his attacker. It was clear from his build and moans of pain that it was a young man. His eyes were then drawn to his would -be captor's hair. It was short and spiky like his; the only difference was that the man possessed orange hair, not blonde.

"Looks like we got the wrong person," Just then, two more figures appeared out of nowhere. One was a young woman that had short, straight blue hair with a bun and grey eyes with lavender eye shadow. The other was a young man with pale white skin and straight red hair that covered his eyes.

"You okay, Yahiko?" the woman asked the orange-haired man.

"Is he okay?!" Naruto snapped. Hearing someone express concern over the man who had attacked him infuriated the young kitsune. "He grabbed me! Why are you asking if he's okay?!"

"Sorry." The young man with bright red hair, approached Naruto and Gohan with a calm smile on his face. "Sorry, you had a similar chakra signature to someone we were looking for and I just assumed."

"Yeesh, Nagato!" Yahiko jumped on his feet and shot the red-haired man an annoyed look. "You couldn't sense that he had a super hard head."

"That's why you should have waited until he further examined the source of the chakra, Yahiko," the young woman reprimanded.

"You have met the girl right, Konan?" Yahiko argued.

Naruto found himself confused as he watched the adults interact. Now able to see his face, Naruto noticed that Yahiko shared a slight resemblance to him. But that confusion was soon replaced with curiosity and annoyance.

"…Who the heck are you guys?" he bluntly asked.

"Oh right," remembering that they weren’t alone, Yahiko returned his gaze to the children in front of him."The name's Yahiko."

The young man then placed his hands on his companion's shoulders, a proud smile appearing on his face as he prepared to introduce them. "These two are Konan and Nagato."

"Hello," Konan waved with a compassionate smile.

"Please to meet you," Nagato added with a small smile.

Though still confused, Naruto felt any annoyance he had left in his heart once again replaced with curiosity.

"Well, I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki," he introduced himself. He then turned to his companion. "And this is Gohan."

"Hello…" Gohan shyly replied.

Konan approached the nervous child and kneeled in front of him. "Are you okay, Gohan?"

"Y-Yeah… It's just…" Gohan averted his gaze as he stumbled over his words.

"Can't let your guard around strangers, right?"

Gohan silently nodded his head.

"Not to mention he ran into all sorts of problems with girls ever since I met him…" Naruto silently emphasized. "Probably had more trouble before then too."

Konan raised her palm. As it hovered in front of Gohan's face, a cluster of paper appeared before her in quickly formed into a rose. She grasped the origami rose and presented it to Gohan with a smile. "Hopefully, this will prove that I'm not a threat."

Such a smile filled Gohan with relief. His eyes were then drawn to the paper rose. He couldn't hide his amazement as a reached for the gift, a feeling his companion shared.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Naruto asked.

"It's a little ninjutsu I developed as a child: Dance of the Shikigami," Konan happily answered.

"Ninjutsu?" the child's eyes widened with surprise. "You guys are ninja?"

"Yep," Yahiko proudly answered. "You're looking at the top three members of the Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki?" Naruto crossed his arms and shout him a confused look. "What's that?

"What? You haven't heard of us?" Yahiko sputtered. "The Akatsuki? Famed mercenaries that desire peace and even ended Hanzō rein over the Hidden Rain Village to prove that point?"

Naruto and Gohan blankly stared at Yahiko. They truly had no idea what the man in front of them was talking about. Sensing this, Yahiko was soon afflicted with despair.

"I don't really think children these days would be into politics, Yahiko," Konan pointed out.

"Yeah…" he scratched the back of his head as he considered her words. Thinking back to his childhood days, he couldn't help but respond with "But we were…"

"We didn't have a choice."

"Yeah," a solemn expression flashed on Yahiko's face before he turned back to Naruto and Gohan. "Anyway, sorry for trying to capture you."

"Wouldn't really be the first to try," Naruto casually shrugged. He couldn't really find it in him to stay mad.

"Moving on to a different subject," the two kids glanced up at Nagato. No longer smiling, he had the appearance of an emotionless man.

"Hey, Nagato, you're scaring people with the eyeless look again," Yahiko joked.

"Huh? Oh right," the pale young man parted his hair, revealing his right eye for Naruto and Gohan to see. It was a shade of purple and possessed ripple-like pattern that seemed to spread over the entire eyeball. Staring into such an eye filled Naruto with a sense of nostalgia, though he couldn't understand why.

"So…" snapping out of his daze, Naruto rejoined Gohan in listening to Nagato."What are you kids doing out here alone?"

Naruto grinned and wrapped his arm around his companion's shoulder.

"We're on an adventure for wishes," Naruto declared.

Silence interrupted their conversation after such a boast. Receiving nothing but blank stares from everyone, Naruto's cheeks steadily grew red from embarrassment.

"That sounded way cooler in my head…" he silently lamented.

"You two are travelling all by yourself...?" Nagato questioned further, breaking the awkward atmosphere. "Aren't your parents worried?"

A troubled look fell over Naruto and Gohan's faces. That was the second time in such a short amount of time they had to face such a thought. At the same time, a solemn expression crossed the three shinobi's faces.

"…Hey, there's a town not too far from here. Why don’t we stop there for something to eat?" Yahiko suggested.

As if on cue, the children's stomachs roared, pleading to be fed.

"We'll take that as a yes," Konan chuckled.

The children followed the three shinobi to a nearby town and a local restaurant.

"So, where were you two before you're current big adventure for wishes?" Yahiko asked.

"It seriously sounded cooler in my head!" Naruto screamed in his head.

"Um…" Gohan nervously scratched his right cheek. "I was living on Mount Paozu with my mother and father."

Snapping out of his thoughts, Naruto added, "And I was living in the Hidden Leaf Village,"

"Hidden Leaf?" the two noticed a slight change in Nagato's visible eye. "The same village as Jiraiya Sensei."

"'Jiraiya Sensei'? Who's Jiraiya?" Naruto asked.

"You don't know?" Konan said, surprised. "He's a pretty well-known ninja,"

"Which he has a tendency of letting people know," a smug smile appeared on Yahiko's face. It was as if was mimicking the mannerisms of someone else. "He's the world-renowned toad sage of Mt. Myoboku and one of the Legendary Sannin. The handsome white haired shinobi of the leaf: Jiraiya!"

Naruto blankly stared at Yahiko. He couldn't believe how dramatic and long such an introduction

"You ever see him, the introduction will likely be even more dramatic," the young man continued as if what he just did was normal.

Hearing all of that, all dumbfounded Naruto could think was, "Toads and drama… I think dad mentioned someone like that before…"

With Naruto once again lost in his head, Gohan took it upon himself to ask, "You mentioned before that you three are part of some organization called the 'Akatsuki' right? What's that?"

In response, Yahiko simply extended his right pointer finger. Even though they didn't say anything, one thought flashed through Konan and Nagato's mind, "He's trying to act wise again."

Suddenly, their friend cleared his throat as he exchanged quick annoyed glances with them. Not even bothering to hide their true feelings, the two simply chuckled as Yahiko returned to his previous position.

"Well, right now, we're a mercenary outfit that does things that both big shinobi villages and governments don't want to do or provide assistance to smaller places," he explained.

"But you also said that you ended someone's rein over a village. Does that mean that you help overthrow current leaderships?"

"That's a different story that actually ties back to the beginning of the organization…"

Gohan and Naruto's eyes lit up with interest. Recognizing this, the young man continued, "You see, me, Nagato and Konan; we were all war orphans."

"War orphans?" Naruto repeated, confused.

"All orphaned by war. We all had parents until they were killed during the Second Great Ninja War," Yahiko explained.

"What was that?" Gohan questioned.

"It was a war between most of the shinobi villages and countries: The Hidden Stone, Hidden Sand, Hidden Leaf, etc," Nagato explained. "It was a very bloody war that not only exceeded expected death tolls from soldiers, but also included many civilian deaths.

The pale young man glanced at Naruto; his solemn expression unable to hide his pain. "My parents were one of the many civilians that died."

"Were they at the wrong place at the wrong time?" the child asked.

"You could say that," Nagato answered. Despite his expression screaming, "Don't say anymore!", he still decided to continue."My parents and I… We lived on the outskirts of the Hidden Rain village. We didn't have the protection of the village and naturally the enemy wanted to infiltrate the Hidden Rain, so there was fighting all around us. We couldn't do anything but take shelter; hide in our home, wishing the fighting would just go away."

Then one day, a couple of uninvited guests arrived. They were ninja from one of the enemy villages trying to gather some supplies from a seemingly abandoned home. My parents and I tried to sneak out, but luck just wasn't on our side. We were discovered and my parents flung themselves at the intruders just to buy me a chance to escape. Of course, they were only civilians; they didn't stand a chance against war-hardened ninja. Though it was self-defense, my parents were killed, leaving me alone in the world."

Silence deprived the young man of his words. After a minute of nothing being said, he concluded, "Those ninja. I remember through my teary vision the headbands they wore. A symbol of a leaf. They were ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village."

"Uh…" a sense of sorrow and dread filled Naruto after hearing that.

Suddenly, Nagato smiled. "Don't worry, I don't hate you just because you come from the Leaf nor do I bear a grudge against the village. After all, if that was the case, I would have hated the man who decided to look after us."

"I know you're just a kid, Naruto, and it's tough to hear that your village murdered people, even in self-defense, but that's just how the world works," Yahiko added. "Every ninja village, every government, every country has there dark secrets. Out home village wasn't any different. That's why we formed the Akatsuki; to free our village and give it some kind of light. To stop the needless bloodshed and give it a chance at peace."

The two kids stared at the three ninja, their faces glowing with respect. But the moment didn't last as they soon heard screams from just outside the restaurant. The group rushed outside where they were greeted by the sight of avian creatures swooping down and terrorizing the citizens of the town.

Disgust contorted Naruto's face as he watched the event take place. The attacking creatures didn't look any different from the zombie rat he helped Chrome capture not too long ago. Their flesh was barely adhering to their skeletons and the smell was almost too much to bear.

"Konan! Nagato!" Yahiko called.

"Right," knowing what she needed to do, Konan thrust her arms forward. "Shikigami Dance…"

Following those words, her arms transformed into tiny slips of paper. Like a bullet form a gun, the paper shot forward at the creatures at lightning speed, circling and slowly encompassing them. As expected, such an act sent the creatures in a crazed frenzy. They raged and raged as more papers covered them until one was about to direct its destructive movements towards a little boy.

"Not happening," Nagato swiftly raised his left palm in the direction of the beast. At the same time, the creature froze in place. The pale young man then raised his hand upwards. As if following the movements of his hand, the creature rose off the ground and towards the sky.

With the monster firmly in his grasp, Nagato directed his right palm to the other creatures and did the same to them. Once they were in his desired position, he slightly retracted his arms."Almighty Push!"

He thrust his arms forward, sending the creatures flying out of the village.

"Whoa!" Naruto and Gohan said in unison.

But there was no time to celebrate as more creatures begun swarming the village. In response to the new attack, Yahiko jumped into the middle of the street and quickly performed three specific hand seals. "Water Style: Wild Water Wave!"

He puffed his cheeks before spewing a torrent of water from his mouth, blowing the creatures back.

"Let's finish this, guys!" Yahiko declared.

Following his lead, the three ninja continued to fight against the invaders. Watching all this, Naruto felt excitement he hasn't felt in a long time."

"These guys are awesome!" he cried.

"No!" surprised by the sudden cry, Naruto immediately looked up to find one of the creatures carrying a girl in its arms. "Why are you all so aggressive?!"

Spurred on by the heroic acts he has witnessed, the young kitsune quickly scaled one of the nearby buildings and launched himself towards the creature. He then clapped his hands together and hammered it down on the creature's head as hard as he could. The force of the strike dazed the beast, causing it to release the grip its victim.

Naruto then grabbed the girl and rode the creature back to the ground.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah?" the girl pouted her cheeks as she looked down at the dazed creature." I thought they would have been friendly, but it turns out that they're really mean."

Naruto examined the girl in front of him. She possessed tan skin, layered mint green hair and orange eyes. Such an appearance gave him déjà vu. But that wasn't the only thing that confused him. Despite just escaping such a harrowing experience, the girl didn't really seem too bothered. The girl suddenly returned her attention to Naruto, sporting a bright smile.

"I'm Fū! Wanna be friends?" she suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Taken aback from the sudden proposition, Naruto found himself speechless.

Not too far away, Yahiko turned around and noticed Fū. "Guys, she's here!"

Before any action could be taken, the creature that Naruto had earlier dazed rose up and violently smacked Fū out of the town.

"Hey!" enraged, Naruto quickly hammered the creature again before watching it rise up in the air and join the other trapped creatures.

With a simple flick of the wrist, Nagato treated the creatures to the same fate as the earlier attackers.

"Good job, guys," Yahiko congratulated. "Unfortuantely, we just missed a chance to grab Fū, but at least we protected a village."

"Why're you guys so calm about that?" Naruto chided. "She just got smacked to who knows where!"

"We're sure she's fine, Naruto. We've seen her take more punishment than that," Konan assured him.

Naruto closed his eyes as he pondered those words. Perhaps that's why the girl had such a caviler attitude despite what had just happened. "So… that girl was the one you confused me for?"

"Yep. She has a pretty similar chakra signature to yours," Nagato answered. "Funny thing is… I've never really seen people with signatures that similar before."

"Yeah, well, tune his out," Yahiko said.

"They're his eyes, Yahiko," Konan chuckled. "Tuning is for hearing."

"Really? Then what's for the eyes?"

"Vision is filtering."

"Huh," Yahiko turned his gaze back to Nagato. "Well, filter Naruto's chakra signature out, Nagato. We can't let her get too far ahead of is again."

"Actually…" Nagato turned to the aforementioned child. "Naruto, may I ask for your assistance?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Just remain calm," Nagato placed his hand atop Naruto's head. After an entire minute of silence… "Found her."

"Already?" Yahiko exclaimed. "How?"

"I figured since Naruto had a similar chakra signature to Fū, he could provide me a way to focus on searching for chakras that were like his," Nagato explained.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do that, Nagato?" Konan said, amazed at the revelation.

"Neither did I," Nagato chuckled. "Naruto, I hate to interrupt you and your friend's own journey, but do you think you could accompany us and help us catch up to Fū?"

"We're in!" Naruto excitedly answered.

Though surprised by his companion's quick answer, Gohan nodded his head in agreement.


	6. Veteran Mercenary

A single ninja was on guard at the entrance of one of the great shinobi villages and Naruto's home: The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Finally achieving the rank of chūnin after overcoming the deadly trials of the last Chūnin Exams, the young man couldn't be any more disappointed over being assigned to watch for any suspicious individuals that would enter the village.

"This sucks…" he sighed.

He wanted action that suited a role he worked hard to get. Instead he was stuck in a single station waiting for his superior to show up. The young man knew that it was going to be a boring day.

"Excuse me," the chūnin looked up to find a woman leaning over his desk. She brushed her dull green hair away from red eyes and smiled. "Do you think you could give me directions?"

"Ah…" the man felt his heart violently pound against his chest as her face grew closer to his. Her natural beauty, snakelike sultry voice and revealing attire caused him to feel a feeling he was trained to suppress.

"Hm…" a smirk of superiority formed on her lips as she leaned back. It was as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. "Guess I'll find where I need to go myself. I doubt you would know anyway."

The woman soon turned and began to walk further into the village. His heart still enraptured, the guard couldn't help but glance over his post to catch one last look at her. Despite his lust, the chūnin could not understand how she could be so cavalier while wearing such revealing clothing. Even her undergarments she did wear did nothing to cover her lower posterior.

After that observation, he could feel his eyes drawn to the jiggling of such an uncovered feature. But before his mind was completely lost, the woman's slim green underwear looked back at him and hissed, causing his heart to drop. "W-What was that?"

"You pervert!" a fist slammed into the top of the young man's head. Reeling back from the pain, he was able to catch a glimpse of his superior officer. "What are you thinking ogling visitors? Think of what kind of reputation that gives the Leaf!"

"Sorry!" the chūnin cried. It was truly just not his day.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi blew a puff of smoke out of his office widow. It was a rare moment of levity during his usual schedule. Being the leader of an entire village was no small feat, let alone one of the top ninja villages in the world. Between balancing the constant flow of missions and general village issues, there was never really a moment he could rest.

But the elderly man was used to it. He always had a source of inspiration that gave him the strength to continue forward. All he had to do was look out of his window and watched the citizens go about his daily lives. To protect such peace, that was all it took to for him to continue on. But lately, such a sight has done nothing but fill him with sorrow.

The moment of levity was abruptly interrupted by three knocks on his door.

"Come in," Hiruzen said.

The door opened and a man slowly walked in. His cane leading the way, the man continued to approach Hiruzen. "Danzō, what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Danzō stopped in front of his desk. As usual, he couldn't read his guest nor guess his intentions from a first glance.

"Sarutobi, have you made any progress on tracking down the Nine-Tails?" he finally asked."

"I don't have much time, Sarutobi, so I would like to get straight to the point," Danzō finally asked.

"I see… So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to know what the progress is on tracking down the Nine-Tails." Danzō finally asked.

Such a question forced Hiruzen to once again think about the source of his current sorrow: Naruto's sudden departure.

"Are you referring to Naruto? We don't really have any leads on him."

"And you are saying that with after using all the village's resources to find him?"

The elderly leader took another puff from his pipe."…There are much more important things than focusing on tracking down Naruto."

"That line isn't you, Sarutobi." Danzō rebuked.

"Had to give it a try once." He chuckled.

"I don't see how you could laugh over such a topic. Do I need to remind you the dangers of leaving such a threat to its own devices? Or have you forgotten the state he left the village in before he ran away?"

"I haven't forgotten," how could he forget the tragedy that happened not too long ago. Despite everyone's best efforts, they still suffered heavy losses. But it wasn't just the memories that he just recalled, but also a promise he made. "But I also haven't forgotten the wishes of his parents either. I intend to respect the desires of the heroes that gave their lives to protect the village."

A tense silence inserted itself in their conversation. Suddenly, Danzō turned towards the door, surprising Hiruzen. He had truly expected another retort or two from his old comrade.

"You're softness is going to bring ruin to the village, Sarutobi. As Hokage, you know what you need to do about this," those were his final words before walking out of the office.

Once again alone, Hiruzen returned to the view beyond of his office window and blew another puff of smoke.

* * *

"Don't you think having an organization called 'Root' be underground in forested area is a little **too** on the nose?" those were the first words Danzō heard as he entered a small room that was built covertly under the village.

The floor was littered with the bodies of several cloaked men in masks and in the middle of them was a woman who had just arrived in the village not too long ago.

"I see you live up to your reputation: Echidna, the Veteran Mercenary," he noted.

Echidna smirked as she approached Danzō. "You're men have horrible manners when it comes to greeting guests."

She glanced down at the unconscious men, her smirk of superiority replaced with an innocent look of curiosity.

"I really hope those weren't the Anbu I heard about. If so, then this village has terrible standards when it comes to top black op specialists." Echidna said.

"I assure you those men were not even close to being the best this village has to offer," Danzō assured her as he walked towards a nearby desk.

"No comments about how I found your little base?" she asked, with a hint of smugness on her face.

Remaining silent, Danzō threw a single photograph at her with such speed that it was comparable of a bullet that had just been shot from a gun. Echidna casually caught the speedy photograph and silently analyzed its contents. It was a picture of a boy with blonde hair and distinctive whisker markings on his face.

"Cute kid," she commented.

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki. I want you to hunt him down," Danzō briefed.

"So, let me get this straight…" the mercenary let out a slight chuckle as she sat down on one of the bodies around them. She then slowly crossed her legs together as she looked up at her client. Her casual demeanor and treatment of one of his men made it clear that she was showing off. "You want to me track down this kid and bring him to the village?"

"I want you to track him down and bring him to me," Danzō corrected.

"Hm…" an interested look floated above the mercenary's face. "What's the kid to you?"

He simply stared at the woman in front of him.

"Hmph…" Echidna slowly stood on her feet and walked towards the exit. "Well, it's no matter for me if you tell me now. I'm sure I'll find the answer when I find him, right?"

* * *

Naruto's, along with his companions', eyes were drawn to a nearby lake. They waited and waited until Fū rose out of the lake riding a giant blue fish. Its sharp teeth flashed from its open and closing mouth, desperate to consume the girl riding it.

"So… Why are you after this girl again?" Naruto asked.

"It's a job we got from the leader of the Village Hidden in the Waterfall," Yahiko explained. Annoyance suddenly expressed itself on his face. "We actually just finished a job for him when…"

The young man soon averted his gaze as if he was embarrassed.

"What happened?" Gohan asked.

"Let's just say that Yahiko set off a chain of events that led to a current mission," Nagato answered.

"Nope," Naruto denied. "What happened?"

"Yahiko bothered a beast that Fū had befriended which resulted in taking off with her on it," Konan explained.

"How was I supposed to know that grapes would freak it out?!" Yahiko exclaimed.

"Huh..." Naruto glanced at Gohan and grinned. "Alright, Gohan, let's get to her!"

"Huh?!" complete shock circulated through the young monkey-tailed boy. "What can I do?"

"You can jump us over there."

"I can't do that."

"Yes, you can."

"No. I can't do stuff like that."

"Then how do you explain us getting on top of that dinosaur from yesterday?"

"Didn't you do that?"

"No, that was you."

Gohan paused for thought after hearing that. He struggled to believe such he could have done such a thing. "Me?"

"Yeah. So, let's go!"

"O-Okay…" Gohan nervously approached Naruto and the two linked arms. "Here goes."

Gohan jumped up… and immediately led the both of them to the ground.

"Uh… Gohan…" Naruto had no idea what to say.

"I can't do it…" Gohan lamented.

Naruto remained silent as he jumped back on his feet.

"Maybe whatever his thing is **is** luck," he thought.

The child crossed his arms, trying to think of another solution.

"I got it!" another grin crossed Naruto's face as he quickly looked up at Nagato. "Hey throw me at that thing like you did those monsters attacking the town."

"Are you sure, Naruto?" the pale young man questioned. "We could just go there ourselves."

"Yeah, but didn't you guys say you had trouble catching up to her? It's probably because a bunch of strangers are chasing her. But she seemed okay with me, so I could probably convince her not to run away," Naruto explained.

"I see. That's a good plan, Naruto," Konan complimented.

"Alright," Naruto planted his feet into the ground. "Let's do it!"

He felt excitement well up in him as he slowly rose off the ground.

"Almighty push!" with that single declaration Naruto was flung at the creature.

"Hey, Nagato," Yahiko casually placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I've been meaning to ask… Don't you think 'Almighty' Push is a name someone with a god complex would give that attack?"

Naruto flew through the air and crashed into the aquatic creature's face; the force of the impact throwing him behind Fū.

"Hey, you're that kid from earlier," she recalled. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm here becau-" Naruto's words was cut off by the fish raging throughout the lake.

The creature eventually threw the high into the sky and stretched its mouth open, preparing for its meal. But it never came.

To Naruto's surprise, he was floating in the air.

"He wasn't that nice either…" he glanced up to find himself in Fū's arms. His eyes soon widened with surprise and amazement the moment he noticed insect-like wings fluttering behind her back.

"You can fly?" he exclaimed.

" Yep," Fū replied, smiling.

"Wow. I guess that explains why you didn't crash into the ground after being knocked out of town."

"Actually, I did. It really hurt."

Naruto blankly stared at the girl and then looked down at where his companions were waiting. "Hey, Fū, think you fly us down to those guys down there."

"Okay. Hang on!" Fū flew towards the ground and landed as Yahiko and Nagato continued to converse.

"I'm just saying "Almighty" Push sounds like there's a bit of ego in the naming," Yahiko said.

"But it's exactly what it is," Nagato argued. "I give the recipient of the attack mighty push."

"You really shouldn't be getting on Nagato for attack names, Yahiko," Konan interjected. "Or should we remind you of the names you came up for your attacks."

"Point taken…" Yahiko sighed in defeat.

"Hey, guys!" Naruto called, drawing his companion's attention to them.

"Finally caught up to you again, Fū," Yahiko said.

"Huh? Have we met before?" the confused girl asked.

"What?!" the young man could not believe what he heard. "We've been chasing you around the world for weeks!"

"Really? I've never noticed," Fū said.

Such a reveal was almost too much for Yahiko to take. The target they thought was eluding them for so long did not even realize she was doing so. As he tried to come to terms with this, Fū turned towards Gohan and smiled.

"Hey, want to be friends?" she asked.

"Huh?" Gohan was surprised by the sudden proposition. "Um, sure."

"Wow, you really want to make friends don't you?" Naruto noted.

"Yeah, making and having friends makes life better for everyone," Fū happily answered.

Naruto crossed his arms as he pondered her words. "I guess you got a point there."

"So, you'll be my friend too?" she asked.

"Yep," Naruto nodded.

"So, Fū…" Konan approached the young girl. "You ready to head home? Shibuki must be pretty worried about you."

"Oh… I'm probably in big trouble when I get back," Fū said.

Empathy flowed through Naruto as he recalled similar feelings.

"All right, mission complete!" Naruto happily declared. "Time to head to the Forest of Spirits!"

"Forest of Spirits? Do you two have enough money for fare?" Nagato asked.

"Fare? Fare for what?" Naruto questioned.

"The boat."

"Why would need a boat?" Naruto glanced towards Gohan. "Do we need a boat?"

"Um…" Gohan pulled out the map and examined their first location. "It didn't appear so on the map."

"Can I see that?" Nagato requested.

Gohan did as he was asked and Nagato examined the map. "You're map is outdated."

"Huh?" Naruto and Gohan said, shocked.

"There's actually a sea between hear and the Forest of Spirits," Nagato explained.

Naruto's right eye twitched as he tried to process what he just heard. Filled with confusion and anger all he could do was clench his fists and yell, "SMOOOOOOOOOOOK!"

Meanwhile, in Hajimeni, Smok felt a chill crawl down her spine.

"Why does it feel like I've ticked someone off?" she wondered aloud.


	7. Temporary Party Member

"Auu…" a tired and slightly annoyed sigh brushed through Naruto's lips as he continued to follow Gohan down a sunset lit dirt path.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Gohan asked.

"I'm still stuck on Smok giving me a dated map…" the child struggled between feelings of extreme annoyance and forgiveness. He was annoyed over being given a map that would have caused issues later, but at the same time he knew there was really no reason to be upset at her. These two conflicting emotions clashing for hours upon end resulted in Naruto feeling somewhat num to the entire revelation.

"I'm sure she didn't mean too… Plus, Konan and the others were nice enough to give us a newer map," Gohan's eyes scoured the new map they were given. "All we have to do is transfer the coordinates from the old map to the new one."

"You can do that?"

"I used to study geography."

"They had map classes at your school too?"

"Actually… I studied a lot at home."

Naruto noticed the solemn expression on Gohan's face as he said that. But instead of asking why, he instead rested his hands behind his head and said, "Bet you had pretty lax parents when it came to your studies. My mom would lose it I fell really far behind."

A sharp shiver shot up the child's spine as he recalled moments like that. "Super scary…"

"Actually, my mother was pretty much the same," Gohan sympathized. "She was… is super strict about my studies too."

"What's with mothers and studying anyway?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"It's to make sure we're prepared to be successful in the future," Gohan replied.

"I guess. I just wish everyone wasn't so naggy about it," the young kitsune shrugged. "So, when are we gonna make it to the next town Nagato told us about?"

"Right about... now," his companion lowered the map and pointed to a small village in the distance. "That should be our first marker."

"Yes!" Naruto excitedly pumped his fists and eagerly dashed towards the village. "No more herbs! No more health fixing veggies or plants!"

Left behind, Gohan silently looked down and rubbed his grumbling stomach. "I'm already tired of just herbs too."

A small smile formed on his lips as ran down the path and into the village. He already saw himself getting lost despite the village's small size but that small worry was soon replaced with shock and curiosity the moment he stepped into the village's borders. Instead of arriving in a busy street filled with people, Gohan found himself alone.

"No one's around…" he mumbled as he slowly and cautiously walked further into the village. The child glanced around his surroundings, his curiosity evolved into uneasiness as he continued forward. Various buildings were had various holes, windows were shattered and more than a few doors were barely hanging onto their hinges. "What happened here?"

"What happened here?" Following that sudden voice, Gohan glanced up at the top of a nearby building and found Naruto pacing back and forth.

"Naruto," he called.

Without saying a word, Naruto jumped down to the street in a huff. "Does this place seem weird to you?"

"It looks like it's been ransacked by…" Gohan glanced around his surroundings, reaffirming the observations he had just made. "Someone really violent."

"'Someone'? I'm pretty sure whatever did this wasn't human. You sure that you didn't find this place on the old map?"

"I'm pretty sure Nagato and Konan pointed this place out on the new map."

"Hmm… Let's check this place out."

The two proceeded to search through a couple of the houses in the village. Naturally, each house had a unique style that reflected the owner, but there were several things that was the same throughout each one: Signs of a struggle.

Various pieces of furniture were damaged and turned over, blinds were torn to shreds and trails of nail marks leading out of the house.

"Yeah, definitely not human," Naruto thought aloud.

"Well, whatever happened, it's clear that no one left the village here willingly," Gohan concluded.

"N-Not really…" Gohan lamented. "And given the state of the village, I don't think that anyone left here willingly."

"Not to mention this place doesn't seem old either…" suddenly, Naruto's eyes widened with horror as he realized what was happening. "Wait… What if…?"

"What if what?"

Naruto slowly turned towards his travelling companion; his unnerved expression slightly scaring him. "This is place is haunted!"

"Haunted?!"

"Ghosts probably came dragged them to the next dimension!"

"N-Next dimension…?" Gohan averted his gaze as processed what he just heard. "That doesn't sound right."

"What? That's where ghosts drag people to," Naruto said.

"No, it's not the location; it's the term you used."

Suddenly, the two heard the sound of motor running, sending fresh waves of fear down their spines. They slowly, cautiously turned around to find a figure shrouded in the shadows standing in the front doorway. The figure then brandished a raging chainsaw from seemingly nowhere, raised it over their head and roared.

Naruto and Gohan screamed in unison and quickly dove behind an overturned couch.

"'Aaahh!'?" the mysterious figure lowered the chainsaw and walked into the moonlight pouring in from the hole in the ceiling.

Surprised by that young-sounding response, the two peeked over the edge of the couch.

"Chrome?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Naruto?" the small succubus marveled. "What are you doing here?"

"What are we doing here? What are you doing here? I thought you were going home with your zombie rat."

"Zombie rat?" Gohan shot a surprised look at Naruto.

"She a nerco-something," he nonchalantly explained. "They mess with dead things."

"It's Necromancer and its art," Chrome corrected. "Plus, I was going home with my experiment, but it ran off again."

"Is that why you had a chainsaw?" Gohan nervously questioned, his eyes glued to the still running weapon.

"Yep," the tiny necromancer cut the weapon off. "I thought you two were it and thought a little scare from my vibro-blade would remind it who's the master."

"You thought a chainsaw would work?" Naruto asked, perplexed. "Wait, that actually makes sense."

"Just like it did for the snail I previously worked on."

"You made a zombie snail too?!"

"Anyway,you still haven't answered my question? What are you doing here?"

"Me and Gohan were just passing through and found this place looking like it was attacked by… something. Wait, your zombie rat didn't attack this village, did it?"

"No, I could tell my guinea pig's work. Looks like this place was ransacked in a very barbaric way."

"Like your zombie rat isn't barbaric, not to mention out of control?"

Chrome nervously chuckled as she recalled the small skirmish with her work the two previously had. "…Point taken. But it's just the control part that's a work in progress."

"She really has a zombie rat?" Gohan asked again, still trying his hardest to accept what he was hearing.

"Yes…" Naruto sighed. There was just something about a fight with a monstrous zombie rat that filled the child with slight apathy. "Wait, why did you even come here Chrome? I thought you could track it."

"I can," She pulled the same tracker out of her bag and powered it on. "And I tracked it to this- EH?!"

"What is it?" Gohan curiously asked.

"It's crossing the sea to the next landmass."

"How can a zombie rat swim?" Naruto questioned.

"I may have added some Scylla parts to it…" a giant grin crossed her face. "This is perfect. My guinea pig is using a feature I did not properly plan yet!"

"You do realize that means it's harder for you to catch your rat, right?" Naruto nonchalantly brought up.

"Eh…" Chrome glanced at the two then back down at her device. The look on her face made it clear she had no idea what to do "…Do you two know where I can find a boat?"

"There's a port town we were heading to that has one," Gohan answered. "Do you want to go with us there?"

"I see no reason not to, uh…"

"Gohan," Gohan introduced himself.

"Alright, Gohan, Naruto. From now on, consider me your temporary part member," Chrome proudly announced. "By the way, do you guys have any pudding?"

"All we have are herbs…" Naruto groaned.

"Oh… Let's check out some of these houses to see if they have anything," Chrome proposed.

"But we can't do that. That's stealing," Gohan objected.

"But there's no one here to claim their stuff, so let's claim some unclaimed stuff."

"She's got a point there, Gohan," Naruto nodded his head in agreement.

"Great," Chrome grinned as she headed to the kitchen. "Wonder if they have any pudding here."

"Isn't that stealing?" Gohan asked Naruto.

"I don't know. I heard a lot travelers take things from empty houses," he shrugged.

The two continued to converse unaware of a second figure cloaked in shadows watching them.

"But isn't it kind of morbid to take things from people who were taken out o their homes?" Gohan asked.

"Not as morbid as people making zombies," Naruto argued. "Speaking of which, you sure were quick to invite a nercomaker with a chainsaw to come with us."

"Despite the revelation that necromancers are real still sinking in, she doesn't seem that bad and I figured that she might as well come with us since we all need to go to a port town," Gohan awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

"Not really. I just noticed that you're pretty quick to be nice to people who just scared or attacked you."

"Well, if they're not bad or did anything really bad, then there really isn't a reason not being polite."

Naruto curiously stared at his companion.

"They got a lot of pudding!" Chrome happily announced as she walked out of the kitchen with supplies. "Also some meat, dumplings and ramen cups."

"Did you say ramen?" Naruto's eyes lit up as he jumped towards food. "You're already the best temporary party member ever!"

Suddenly, the figure jumped into the building, grabbed Gohan and ran out of the house.

"Gohan!" the young kitsune quickly jumped through an open window and gave chase. Sprinting as hard as he could, Naruto caught up and kicked the figure with all his might, freeing the captured Gohan.

"You okay, Gohan?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Gohan laid motionless on the ground, waiting for the sky to stop spinning.

Naruto then turned his attention to the mysterious figure cloaked in shadows.

"Wait…" upon closer inspection, the child was shocked to realize that the figure was not bathed in shadows, but actually a humanoid that appeared to be bathed in shadows. Along with the fact it was standing in the moonlight in the middle of a deserted village... "Knew this place was haunted."

"Zombies and ghosts…" Gohan muttered, still waiting for his wits to come back to him.

"Yeah it's been a weird wee-" before he could finish his sentence, a giant jet black fist slammed into him, sending the child flying into a nearby building. "Ow!"

The fist shrunk and size and receded back to the indiscernible figure's side as it slowly approached Gohan.

"My turn!" Suddenly, Chrome jumped over the dizzy monkey-tailed child and raised her hands over her head. "Face one of the specialties of a succubus!"

"No!" Naruto's eyes widened with horror as he recalled what Smok had told him about Succubi the night before he embarked on his journey. "Anything but that!

"Wind!" Like a guillotine, Chrome swiftly swung her arms down, shooting small blades of winds from her fingertips.

The blades flew forward, slicing her opponents into bits. The various pieces bled into the ground and swiftly left the village.

"What happened to the ghost?" Naruto wondered as he approached the two.

"That wasn't a ghost. Whatever it was, it belonged to the shadow family of monsters," Chrome explained.

"How do you know that wasn't in the shadow family of ghost?"

"Becomes I'm part of the Artiste family and if there's one thing we know it's the three Dark Performance Arts: Necromancy, Medium and Puppetry," Chrome proudly stated.

"…One of those don't seem like they fit with the others," Naruto thought.

Zombies, ghosts and puppets…" Gohan muttered.


	8. Genesis of the Triune

"Dad!"

Gohan walked through the forests of Mt. Paozu looking for his father. It was only recently that his mother let him roam around the area on his own and the small child felt a sense of pride in gaining her trust.

"HAAA!!!"

A stream of blue energy soared through the sky. Amazement was plastered across the child's face as he watched it dissipate.

Gohan continued forward and eventually found his father cupping his hands.

"Dad!" he cried.

Goku curiously turned around and waved. "Yo!"

"Dad, what was that stream just now?"

"Stream? Oh, you mean the Kamehameha."

"What's a Kamehameha?"

"Well, it's basically an attack where you draw you ki together into a single point and then shooting out as a powerful energy beam."

Goku cupped his hands together and drew them at his side. "Like this. You concentrate your ki between your hands."

A blue, almost spherical energy formed in Goku's hand. "Ka-me-ha-me… Then when you're fully charged, you thrust your hands forwards and let loose."

Goku thrust his arms towards the sky.

"HA!" another beam of energy shot out of his hands.

"Wow," Gohan's eyes sparkled with admiration. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

"I learned it by watching Master Roshi. He's this old guy I used to train under. He may look feeble, but he's actually pretty strong. My Grandpa Gohan also knew how to do it and Krillin and Yamcha learned how to do it too."

It was at that moment when Goku got an idea.

"Hey, wanna learn it too?"

"I-I don’t think so…" Gohan anxiously shook his head. "I don't really think I could do it. Plus, Mom wouldn't like me learning how to do something like that."

"Oh right…" Goku didn't bother to hide his disappointment.

"Gohan."

"Huh?" Gohan glanced around, searching for the source of that familiar voice.

"Gohan!"

Blinking twice, Gohan found the faces of Naruto and Chrome looming over him. Their faces were covered in bruises.

"What happened?" he asked.

Naruto glared at Chrome. "She tried to wake you up by summoning zombie hands to tickle you!"

"You two had to fight zombie hands?" Gohan asked.

"No, we had to fight a zombie tree."

Naruto pointed to a nearby tree. It was wilted and littered with fist shaped holes.

"I didn't even know you could reanimate trees. An excited, somewhat mad smile filled Chrome's face. "I can't wait to see how I can apply this fact to future subjects!"

Naruto blankly stared at the small succubus. "You've been doing this necro-zombie stuff for a while right?"

"Yeah."

"…How are you still alive?"

Before anything else could be said, a force unlike any other assaulted to their very being. It felt as if the entire earth, no, all of existence was shaking.

They looked up and were shocked to find cracks appearing. But they soon disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

Rendered speechless by what he just saw, Naruto slowly turned towards Chrome.

"I can't do stuff like that!" she frantically denied. "Unless I reanimated a corpse that had the power to do that…"

Naruto's eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"I didn't do that!"

Gohan had a different reaction what he just saw though. _I've seen some weird things ever since starting this journey. And it's still only beginning…_

He wasn't really sure whether to laugh or cry.

"Anyway, we better get moving. My subject is getting further and further away the more time we waste here," Chrome nonchalantly said as she adjusted the strap to her bag.

Naruto opened his mouth to reply. But nothing ever came out. Deep down, he kind of agreed with her approach. "Alright. Gohan?"

"Yeah." The monkey-tailed child jumped on his feet. "We shouldn't be too far from the next town. Once we're there we can find a boat."

"Then let's go so we can find the next shard!" Naruto excitedly declared.

A fiery aura surrounded him before taking off.

One hour later…

"We're here!" Naruto loudly announced. "Where do we go from here, Gohan?"

"Um… I guess we just ask around. I just really hope they allow kids to buy their own tickets. "

Naruto looked around. Despite being a somewhat large town, there weren't many citizens wandering around. Not only that, but there was claw marks scattered across the various buildings.

"Yeesh, this place has seen better days," he noted.

"Actually, it looks like the abandoned village we just passed through," Gohan replied. "What do you think, Chrome?

His question was met with silence.

The boys looked around, but Chrome was nowhere in sight.

"Guess she thinks temporary party thing is over," Naruto shrugged and started walking.

The two journeyed to the docks. There was a plethora of ships of different shapes and sizes. But despite the large number of boats that surely need maintenance, no one was around. 

Confused, Naruto cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled. "RAISE THE SAILS, WE'RE READY TO GO!"

He then stuck his ear out towards the ships, waiting for a response.

There was nothing but the sound of the waves.

Naruto's confusion grew as he shifted his gaze to his companion. "What kind of ship town doesn't have people working on the ships?"

"It may have something to do with the state of the town. Maybe we should ask around?" Gohan suggested.

"And I know just the place: The local pub."

"Aren't we too young to go in there?"

"I think this place has bigger problems than two kids going to a bar."

Though he wasn't entirely sure if Naruto was right, Gohan still followed him around until they entered the local pub.

They had expected a bunch of rough and tough drunkards, but there were only a few and-

"Chrome?" Naruto marveled at the small succubus casually eating pudding at a nearby table.

"Hey," Chrome waved her free hand. "Did you get us a boat?"

Naruto and Gohan blankly stared at her. _Was she trying to get out of paying?_

"Haven't you noticed something weird going on, Chrome?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. The town is empty and yet there aren't any fresh corpses around like the village we passed through last night. Meaning that someone is kidnapping people," Chrome succinctly explained.

"That's very likely," Gohan nodded his head in agreement. "But the question is why and if that shadow creature has something to do with it."

"Considering that it tried to drag you away, it probably does. But the real question is what's happening to them."

"You don't think its forced labor, do you?"

"Or perhaps scientific curiosity."

A deranged smile crossed the small succubus' face, greatly disturbing Naruto.

"So, the point is that someone's kidnapping people, right? Naruto trust his right fist into the palm of his left hand. "Then we need to find out where these people are at?"

"I have the perfect tool for the job," Chrome giggled as she dug into her bag.

She pulled a syringe filled with a strange glowing liquid and dramatically thrust it above her head.

"What's that?" Gohan asked.

"It's a special formula I mixed together. With it any creatures are given a zombie's superior vision," Chrome proudly explained.

"I don't think zombies have anything that's better than someone who's alive…" Naruto argued.

"A zombie crafted by an Artiste does and with this mixture so can anyone else."

Clear doubt was plastered across Naruto's face.

"…How many times has it worked?"

"What?"

"How many times has it worked?"

"Well…" Chrome nervously chuckled as she averted her gaze. "I had a few a breakthroughs and the life spans of the guinea pigs are better every time."

"Have you ever had a trial that had no side effects?" Gohan awkwardly asked.

"Well, I just need a few more guinea pigs and…"

"Dang it, Chrome! We're not you're guinea pigs!" Naruto snapped.

"You're guaranteed to survive. But in case you don't, I'll be sure to revive you as first-class zombies."

"That's not very reassuring…" Gohan said.

"Excuse me, youngsters."

The three turned around as an elderly man approached them. "Did I hear that you kids were looking for kidnapped people?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded his head. "Do you know where they're at, gramps?"

"Well, I wasn't going to let some evildoer come to our village and have their way, so I followed one of the taken down a path made of what I can assume villagers trying to grab whatever they can to save themselves and found a mysterious looking hatch on the ground.

I'm sure that if you find that hatch, you find those villagers."

"Really? Thanks, gramps," a confident smile stretched across Naruto's face as he turned towards his small party. "Let's go guys."

…

The evening sun started to set on the horizon, but the three had yet to find the hatch the elder referred too.

Despite running around for who knows how long, Naruto displayed no signs of fatigue.

"He would make a great zombie," Chrome noted.

"I don't think stamina and zombie go together…" Gohan weakly argued.

Naruto continued to run back and forth, but still found no hatch. "Guys, have you found anything yet?"

"Maybe you try my zombie vision enhancer?" Chrome proposed.

"We're not your guinea pigs, Chrome!"

Naruto stomped his foot to emphasize his point before suddenly disappearing into the ground.

His companions quickly rushed to where he was standing and found an open hatch and ladder.

"Naruto!" Gohan called out for his friend.

"Guys, you got see this!"

The two climbed down the ladder. Once at the bottom, they were left awestruck at what they saw. The white walls that surrounded them were clean and pristine and there several doorways that lined them.

"What is this place?" Naruto wondered aloud.

Gohan slowly walked ahead and peaked through one of the doors. On the other side were tall piles of papers and several computer screens.

"I think we're in some type of laboratory," Gohan said.

"You mean one of those places sciencey people work in? Why would someone that works her kidn-?"

Naruto glanced at Chrome and immediately received his answer. "Never mind. Let's just find the villagers and get out of this creepy place."

The party began their search. They looked through every door they passed by, but all they found was more computer screens and scattered papers.

Disbelief swelled in Naruto as he continued to find more of the same things. "How many of these things does a person need?"

"Maybe a lot of people work here?" Gohan noted.

The search continued until Naruto and Gohan walked into a room with strange machines lined on the walls.

But that wasn’t what grabbed their attention. What grabbed their attention was the fact there were people floating inside a green liquid.

"What the heck?!" Naruto exclaimed.

Gohan agreed with that sentiment. He couldn't fathom why someone would kidnap and stick people into these strange capsules.

"Hey, Gohan, check this out!" Naruto called.

Gohan approached the capsule Naruto was standing in front of. To his surprise, there was a strange blue creature in it.

"What is that?" Naruto wondered.

"It looks like's it's some sort of animal," Gohan observed the creature closer. "Judging by its quills, it may be a hedgehog."

"A hedgehog wearing gloves and red shoes? Whoever owns this place gotta be like Chrome."

The two continued to stare at the creature, unaware of Naruto's shadow slowly rising from the ground.

"So, how do we get everyone out of here?" Naruto asked.

"Um…" Gohan glanced to his right and noticed a computer station nearby. "The controls are probably on that computer."

"You know how to use computers?"

"Well, I never actually used one before… But I read up on how they work."

"Good enough for me. Give it a shot."

Gohan cautiously approached the computer station. Though he read on how to use a computer, he still wasn't sure how much he could apply to the real thing.

Even scarier was that this model was much more advanced than what he did study.

"Um…"

The shadowy figure finally pulled itself from the ground and raised its palm towards Naruto. Enlarging in size, the shadow's hand shot at Naruto and trapped him in its grip.

"What th-?!" before he could finish his sentence, the child was thrown into a nearby wall. Naruto immediately glanced up, shocked to find his own shadow moving on its own. "Since when do shadows come to life?"

The shadow then turned its attention to Gohan, sending a sharp shiver down his spine. It slowly approached him until Naruto jumped on the shadow's back.

"Gohan, find a way to get the capsules open!" he ordered.

"R-Right…" Gohan anxiously nodded his head and returned to the console.

The shadow raged around the room, trying to get Naruto off its back. It smashed the child against everything in the room from file cabinets to desks to the capsule housing the hedgehog. Continuous run-ins with the capsule cracked the glass and the vibrations of the battle caused the creature to stir.

The hedgehog's eyes slowly opened, allowing him to catch the battle in front of him. Though confused, the blue creature was determined to join the action. He soon curled into a ball and started to spin in place. The moment he built enough speed, he flew out of the capsule and into the shadow, knocking it away from Naruto.

The hedgehog then stretched his arms and legs and yawned. "Not the best place to take a nap."

"Wh-? You can talk?!" Naruto marveled.

"Hm? Of course, I can talk. What you'd expect?"

"Yep, definitely another mad scientist's experiment."

"Hey, I'm not an experiment," the blue hedgehog grinned as he pointed to himself. "The name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Wow…"

The child's confusion was quickly swept away by admiration. There was something about the hedgehog in front of him that was inheritably cool.

But that moment didn't last as two giant shadowy hands grabbed the two and slammed them into another wall.

"Alright, he's asking for it now!"

Fires of determination burned in Naruto and Sonic's eyes as they charged at their opponent.

…

Chrome peeked into one of the many rooms and found a mound made of fresh corpse.

"Though I sensed raw material," she said as she approached the dead.

Upon closer inspection, the small succubus noted how they were all men who had been stripped of their clothes. But more important than that was why someone was keeping these corpses around instead of disposing them.

From the corner of her eye, Chrome noticed a note tapped to a nearby file cabinet. She reached for the note and read it aloud.

"Here are some materials for you in case you need them. I doubt they'd be any use for you but they're here."

The word "material" caught Chrome's eye. To her, it implied necromancy was at play here. But who were they for?

A solemn expression filled her face. "Could it be…?"

A loud crashing sound quickly derailed that train of thought.

_Naruto must be going at it with someone._

She then turned towards the corpses, a deranged smile crossing her face. Chrome pulled a book out of her bag and opened it.

Her left hand began to glow with a dark blue light as she started her incantation.

…

Naruto's fist flew through his shadowy's double's head. He threw more and more punches, but none of landed due to the shadow constantly changing its shape and volume.

"Stop squirming so much!" Naruto shouted in frustration.

The shadow was then knocked away by a flying kick from Sonic.

"Not so tough when you get snuck up on, huh?" the blue hedgehog taunted.

Seemingly responding to those words, the shadow melded into the ground and swam towards them. Once it was beneath them, it shot up with enlarged hands and once again trapped the two in its giant hands.

In seconds, a blue spinning ball burst through one of the hands. Sonic uncurled himself near Gohan and looked up at him.

"Hey, what's your thing in all of this?" the hedgehog asked.

"I'm trying to find a way to free all of these people using this station," Gohan explained.

"Oh. Keep it up."

Sonic flashed him an encouraging grin before once again curling himself into a spinning ball. He launched himself forward and flew through the shadow's other hand, freeing Naruto.

At the same time, several moans echoed through the room. To the surprise of everyone in the room, several corpses grabbed the shadow and pinned it to the ground.

"…Are those zombies?" Sonic asked.

"Artiste brand zombies!"

They heard a sinister giggle slipped through Chrome's lips as she approached the shadow.

"Chrome? Where'd you find these dead guys?" Naruto questioned.

"Found them left behind in a nearby room."

Anger and frustration was all Naruto felt at that moment. Chrome, meanwhile, pulled a syringe out of her bag and thrust it into the shadow.

In no time at all, the shadow's physical formed slowly liquefied and seeped into the ground as nothing more than a black puddle.

"What just happened?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"I had to deal with a few shadow creatures before, so I made something that could disable them!" Chrome proudly replied.

Naruto was impressed by what she had just done, but at the same time, this just seemed to further justify not taking her "vision enhancer".

"Hey, Gohan, you find out how to free everyone, yet?" Naruto asked.

"I think this… is… it?"

After entering a series of increasingly complex commands, Gohan turned around and watched the capsules open.

The kidnapped victims fell out of their futuristic cells.

"I… I did it," Gohan couldn't hide his surprise and amazement over what he had just done.

"Nice work, Gohan," Sonic congratulated him with a thumbs-up.

Gohan awkwardly scratched the back of his head and chuckled.

But that moment of levity didn't last long as an artificial sounding voice spoke up. "Self-Destruct sequence activated! All personal has 5 minutes to evacuate!"

"WHAT?!" Naruto exclaimed.

He frantically darted across the room, trying to figure out what they could do.

"How do we get everyone out of here in 5 minutes?!"

"Simple," a proud, somewhat haughty smile filled Chrome's face. She dramatically pointed towards the kidnapped and declared. "Go my zombies and save everyone here."

Her dramatic order was only met with silence.

"Um, you do know that we're not your servants right?" one of them pointed out.

"Eh? But I brought you back as art and you just followed my command to restrain the shadow."

"That was for our own revenge," another one answered.

"Hey…" Naruto shot an annoyed look at the group of zombies as he approached them. "You do realize that as your arguing ownership… EVERYONE YOU CARE ABOUT AND MORE INNOCENTS ARE ABOUT TO BLOW UP!!!"

Those words cut deep into the corpses' non-functioning hearts.

"You guys done arguing yet?" their attention was soon drawn to Sonic, who had already ran a few people out.

"Everyone grab someone and run!" Naruto commanded.

Following the orders they were given, the group grabbed whoever they could and rushed towards the exit.

Sprinting as hard as they could, they reached the ladder leading to their escape with one minute to spare. The zombies jumped through the top hatch while the others climbed out with the ladder.

Once they were out, they watched a blue blur speed back and forth past them, dropping off more and more people before Sonic slammed the hatch closed.

One second later, the ground violently shook.

Sonic let out a sigh of relief."Why do mad scientists always got to blow up their base when they're plans fail?"

Unsure how to answer that, Naruto turned to Chrome.

"I can't believe you actually did something necrotechy related that didn't blow up in our face," he said.

"What'd you expect from an Artise?" a proud smile formed on her lips as she replied.

Naruto then shifted his focus towards the reanimated corpses and asked, "So, what are you guys going to do now that your zombies?"

"I guess we can-"

The corpses suddenly collapsed on the ground. Any signs of life they displayed vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Did- Are they dead again?" Naruto gasped.

"Well, I didn't have enough time to work to keep them around for long…" Chrome nervously chuckled.

An awkward silence filled the air as everyone just stared at the men who were whisked away by death once more.


	9. Genesis of the Triune Part 2

Naruto yawned and rubbed his eyes as he sat up. It's been a while since he's slept that good, but then again, it's been awhile since he slept on a normal bed. The one he slept on while staying with Smok felt like lying on a slightly malleable brick.

Naruto scratched his head as looked around the large room. It still fit the idea of what he imagined a high class inn room would look like. There was a fancy mirror, fancy drawers with shiny handles, an equally large bathroom a good view of the town from the window.

The child then looked to his left. On the other side of the room was another bed with Gohan sleeping on top.

A devious grin filled Naruto's face as he slowly stood up and walked to the edge of his mattress. He jumped across the room, shouting, "Hey, Gohan! Wake up!"

The collision of boy and fluffy mattress tossed the monkey-tailed child out of his bed and towards the ground.

"Ow!" Gohan gently rubbed his forehead as he looked up at Naruto.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," Naruto chuckled.

He jumped down towards his downed companion and stood Gohan up.

They then grabbed their bags and proceeded to exit the inn. Rays from the sun beamed down on them as they walked to the town port.

There they spotted Chrome sitting on top of a barrel reading a book neatly tucked between her hands.

"Good morning, Chrome," Gohan said.

Chrome glanced up at the two with a dark, somewhat annoyed expression on her face.

"What's wrong with you?" Naruto asked.

"Those villagers from the village we passed by got really mad at me with the whole drop dead thing with my work."

"That was a pretty awkward way to go in a short undead life…" he replied.

"I know but…" her expression changed from annoyance to anger as she violently pulled her twin tails. "I offered to bring them back again and they got even more mad at me!"

"Nobody likes people they know coming back as zombies…"

"They can't have it both ways though!"

"They probably went easy on you since you're just a little girl."

"I'm actually over 100 years old…"

"WHAT?!"

Naruto could not believe what he just heard. The girl he's travelled for just a short time, the girl who only looks just a little older than him was over a hundred years old?

"You're actually an old lady?!"

"Well, that was not needed…" Chrome muttered under her breath.

An awkward atmosphere hung over the three until a bearded man approach them. He was one of the kidnap victims they had rescued who also happened to be captain of one of the town's ships.

"Ah, you three are here. We're ready to sail anytime you're ready," he said before boarding the ship he commands.

Naruto awkwardly scratched his right cheek. It was weird to be looked at with genuine respect and gratitude.

"You guys ready to go?"

For some strange reasons, the words "Yes" and "No" appeared in Gohan's head. He couldn't understand why he thought both when he had no reason to decline.

The three boarded the ship and waited for the other passengers. Once it was time, the ship took off for the next mass of land.

…

Naruto and Gohan continued to watch the passing waves over the side of the ship.

Bored out of his mind, Naruto turned to his travelling companion and asked, "Hey, Gohan, you ever wonder where Sonic ran off too?"

"You call?"

Giant exclamation points flashed over their heads as they followed that reply to its source. Right behind them, lounging on a chair, was the blue anthropomorphic hedgehog they briefly teamed up with the day before.

"Whoa, when did you get here?" Naruto questioned.

"I've been here," Sonic shrugged. "Kinda been meaning to ask you two something."

"Ask us what?" Gohan asked.

"What is this place?"

The two didn't know how to respond to such a question. It was too broad and vague

"One minute I'm dealing with Robotnik and suddenly I'm somewhere with a whole bunch of people that kinda look like him."

"Um…" Gohan anxiously scratched the back of his head. Those few sentences allowed him to form a theory, but it was a weird one. "This is kind of a long shot but is it possible that you're an alien?"

"Alien?" Naruto shot a confused look at Gohan.

"Depends. Ever heard of a place called Green Hill Zone?"

"No," Gohan answered.

"Emerald Hill?"

"No."

"Angel Island?"

"No."

"What's this planet called?"

"Earth."

"Okay, I'm an alien," Sonic nonchalantly reached for a can of soda he put to the side and took a sip.

"You're what?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Somehow I ended up on another planet," Sonic casually answered.

"Wait a minute," Naruto shook his head as he tried to process what he just heard. "There are people on planets other than ours?"

"Yeah. You didn't know that?"

"No!"

A sense of defeat filled Naruto as he slumped down. He always wondered what the world was like outside of his home village and its filled with dragons, zombies, scary women known as succubi, a succubus obsessed with zombies who also is way older than she looks, shadow creatures, dinosaurs, slime girls and aliens.

His journey just began and he's already encountered more than he could handle. What's more was deep down he felt surprised that he was shocked by all this considering he himself was far from being normal himself.

"So where are you guys headed too?" Sonic asked.

Gohan glanced at Naruto. He could tell that his companion wasn't in a state to answer.

"Well, we're headed to a place called the Forest of Spirits to find one of the Phantom Ruby shards we're after," Gohan answered.

"Phantom Ruby shards?" a quizzical expression formed on the blue hedgehog's face. Something about the name "Phantom Ruby" didn't sit right with him.

Gohan dug into his pocket and showed Sonic the shard Naruto has given him. "Someone told Naruto when you gather all seven; you can make any wish you want."

A sense of déjà vu attacked Sonic as he got up and approached the shard. "So that's a Phantom Ruby shard, huh? Kind of reminds me of the Chaos Emeralds."

Sonic reached out and touched the shard. Suddenly, he found himself staring down a masked foe he's never seen before.

"Time to tag out, Silver! I've got it from here!" he assured his fallen friend.

"Well, look who's back from the dead. The little blue savior."

On closer glance, he did recall seeing this person before. He previously lost to him before Eggman conquered most of the planet. Affixed on his chest was a gem that looked similar to the shard he just saw.

"But what's that I smell? You reek of fear. Glad to see I left an impression." The masked foe taunted.

Sonic playfully sniffed the underside of his right arm. "That's not fear. I ran all the way over here.

And you haven't left an impression. I don't know anything about you! Not even you're name."

"You may call me 'Infinite' in the brief moments that remain to you."

"Oh great! See, Infinite, now we're getting to know each other! So what's your favorite color? Do you like long, romantic walks on the beach? What's the source of your power? You can skip the first two questions if you like."

"The source of my power is none of your concern." Infinite calmly stated, ignoring Sonic's jokey remarks.

"Sorry, but you've just GOT to share the secret of your power with me." A confident, somewhat cocky grin stretched across the blue hedgehog's face as he charged at his opponent. "I insist!"

"Your insistence is futile!"

A demonic red aura surged through the immediate vicinity, stopping Sonic in his tracks. His confidence was soon replaced with bewilderment as he slowly rose from the ground.

"Sonic, you okay?" Silver asked.

Before he could reply, Infinite rammed into Sonic, sending him flying back to the ship.

"Whoa!" a sharp chill surged through the hedgehog's body as he quickly retracted his hand.

"What's wrong?" Gohan worriedly asked.

"I don't know. I just saw a taller version of me going at it with some guy trying way too hard to be edgy and menacing." Sonic covered his right eye and mimicked the villain's voice. "'You may call me **Infinite** in the brief moments that remain to you.'"

He chuckled. It really seemed like Infinite was trying his hardest to sound like the best villain in the world. "I don't even know if he's real or not and I still can't take him completely seriously."

Gohan glanced down at the shard in his hand and gently stiffed it back in his pocket.

"Whoo. Anyway, you two are going around collecting these things, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Alright, count me in!"

"Huh?" snapping back to reality, Naruto immediately jumped back on his feet and confronted Sonic. "You want to join us?"

"Sure, consider it thanks for saving me. Plus, I'll be able to see what kind of places this planet's got."

"You're really taking this stuck on another planet thing really well…" Naruto muttered.

"Hey, if you've got time for doubt and regret, then run." Sonic casually replied.

"What's that mean?"

"It means there's no point dwelling on the bad things. Besides, I'm always fine as long as I got a place to run."

"Well, in that case, welcome aboard."

Sonic nodded his head. "By the way, what do I call you guys?"

"I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

"I'm Son Gohan."

"Naruto and Gohan." Sonic extended his right first towards them and grinned. "Got it?"

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.

"Don't people on this planet know what a 'Fist Bump' is?"

Naruto awkwardly scratched his right cheek as Gohan shook his head.

"I don't know, at least," Gohan answered.

"It's pretty much in the name. Kinda like a high five but you bump fists. Come on, let's do it."

Naruto and Gohan raised their right fists and gently bumped it against Sonic's. Such a gesture felt like the christening of a new team to them.

"Well…" Sonic then jumped back in his chair and put on a pair of sunglasses. "How long is this boat ride anyway?"

"We won't arrive until next morning," Gohan answered.

"Guess the adventure continues tomorrow," Sonic shrugged then reached for his drink. "Can't wait, Partners."

 _Kinda hard to tell when you're lounging right there._ Naruto chuckled at the contradictory words and actions of the alien blue hedgehog.


End file.
